Faculty

Read below to learn more about our Keynote Speaker, the Agent and Editor Panels, and critique preferences for the faculty participating in critiques.

Sydney Smith is the award-winning author and illustrator of SMALL IN THE CITY and DO YOU REMEMBER? as well as the illustrator of I TALK LIKE A RIVER by Jordan Scott, TOWN IS BY THE SEA by Joanne Schwartz, and SIDEWALK FLOWERS by JonArno Lawson, among others. Sydney has received multiple awards, including New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books Awards, two Carnegie Illustration Awards, and in 2024 he received the Hans Christian Andersen Award, internationally recognizing his contribution to books for children.

In Illustrating for Yourself, Sydney Smith reflects on the creative and professional journey of making picturebooks, and on the balance between collaboration, authorship, and personal voice. Using examples from his own books and drawing on his experience as both an illustrator and author, he explores the different challenges and rewards of illustrating someone else’s text versus creating work of his own. Smith speaks about developing craft through close attention, trusting instinct, and remaining open to risk and growth over the course of a career. He considers how illustration can communicate emotion, memory, and meaning in ways that support and deepen a child’s reading experience. Grounded in practice and reflection, this talk encourages illustrators and author-illustrators to make work that is honest, intentional, and responsive — both to themselves and to the young readers they serve.

BIO: Rachel Diebel hails from the Pacific Northwest, where she grew up hiking, camping, and horseback riding. She started her publishing career at St. Martin’s Press, where she worked on New York Times-bestsellers like Kristin Hannah, Katherine Center, and Lili Reinhart’s Swimming Lessons. She’s now an editor at Feiwel & Friends, acquiring YA, middle grade, and graphic novels, including award winners Ophelia After All and The Flicker and New York Times-bestseller The Secret Society of Aunts and Uncles. She has one cat and one equally annoying and adorable golden retriever. CRITIQUE PREFERENCES: MG, YA, Fantasy, Graphic novels (text only or text+art), romance, historical fiction, horror, dystopia

BIO: Krista Marino is a VP & Senior Executive Editor at Delacorte Press where she acquires and edits Young Adult and Middle Grade fiction. Among her list are bestselling series, like the Maze Runner; literary gems, like Kathleen Glasgow’s Girl in Pieces; genre-bending classics, like Rory Power’s Wilder Girls; trendsetters, like Karen M. McManus’s One of Us Is Lying; and masterful works of fantasy, like Amélie Wen Zhao’s Song of Silver, Flame like Night. Whether it’s an original voice, a unique world, or a compelling plot, she’s looking for stories you can’t stop thinking about. CRITIQUE PREFERENCES: MG & YA: Speculative fiction, Magical Realism, Horror, Dystopia, Romantasy (romantic fantasy), cozy fantasy, thrillers & mysteries, emotional contemporary issue-driven, Novels in-Verse, Graphic Novels (text +art)

BIO: Allison is an Editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books. Her favorite books to work on reflect readers’ complexities—both directly and through a genre lens—and center historically marginalized perspectives. She is looking to acquire compulsively readable genre fiction (from swords to screams to swoons); stories that explore the challenges of our modern world; captivating, high-concept reads; and novels with innovative formats. Allison comes to the world of children’s books from being an educator, and has always wanted to work on the kinds of evergreen books that her students were drawn to—the silly, the serious, and the ones they would bring to class week after week. CRITIQUE PREFERENCES: MG, YA, Novels-in-Verse, Graphic Novels (both text-only and text + art), sci-fi, mystery, fantasy, romantasy, contemporary fantasy, thriller, romcom, romance, historical fiction, magical realism, horror, and dystopian.

BIO: Stephen Barr is a senior literary agent at Writer House, where he started out as an intern in the winter of 2008. He represents a broad stripe of authors across all genres, with a steady hankering for literary and commercial fiction that tackles heavy themes with a light touch, audacious YA, intricate picture books, mysteries that handcuff humor and tragedy to the same radiator, and world-bending middle grade. He’s also the author of The Upside Down Hat, illustrated by Gracey Zhang, which was a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of 2022. He lives in Brooklyn, NY, with his wife, son, and daughter. CRITIQUE PREFERENCES: PB, Rhyming PB, Board Book, CB, MG, YA, NF, Sci-Fi, Mystery, Fantasy, Graphic Novels (text +art), Dummy, Historical Fiction, Magical Realism, Horror, or Dystopia.

BIO: Haley Casey graduated from The University of Kansas with a BA in creative writing and attended the Denver Publishing Institute before she began her full-time career at Ogden Publications, where she was an editor for four years. There she worked with a variety of authors across multiple magazines, wrote over a dozen articles, edited audio for podcasts, and even styled cover photos—anything to add some creativity to her days. In 2020, she interned at Metamorphosis Literary Agency and Creative Media Agency, Inc. before stepping into her role as an associate agent at CMA. She’s actively building her list, and using her industry expertise and editorial eye, she’s ready to continue bringing new stories into the world. CRITIQUE PREFERENCES: All YA and MG genres: contemporary, romance (including contemporary, paranormal, or fantastical), mystery, horror, science fiction and fantasy (including dystopian), and MG, YA, NF, Sci-Fi, Mystery, Fantasy, Romance, Magical Realism, Horror, and Dystopia

BIO: Jennifer came to agenting via education, having been a middle-school teacher for five years. She joined ABLA in 2005 and has never left! CRITIQUE PREFERENCES: PB, Rhyming PB, CB, MG (any genre except Sci fi), GN text and art, Dummies or Portfolios

BIO: Jennifer Tolo Pierce is the Design Director of Children’s Publishing at Chronicle Books, where she brings stories to life for audiences ranging from infant through Young Adult. Her work includes design and art direction for the New York Times-bestselling Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site series, the Tiny T. Rex series, and notable titles such as Caldecott Honor winners They All Saw a Cat and Have You Ever Seen a Flower, as well as Josephine: The Dazzling Life of Josephine Baker, a Coretta Scott King Book Award, Illustrator, Honor winner. Prior to her role in Children’s, Jennifer worked with design studios in San Francisco and New York before bringing her experience to Chronicle as a Design Director focused on Lifestyle publishing. CRITIQUE PREFERENCES: (All submissions must include art!) PB Dummy (Text + art), MG, and YA Dummy (1st 10 pages+ art), PB Dummy (art only), portfolios, book covers. Graphic Novel (1st 10 pages text plus art)

BIO: Tracy Shaw has been in publishing for over 25 years at Little, Brown and Company, currently an art director at Little Brown Books for Young Readers (LBYR). She studied Illustration at RISD which led her to book design, and has worked on everything from board books to adult nonfiction. For 8 years she led the art direction of James Patterson’s childrens imprint, Jimmy Patterson Books, and is now back to doing what she loves best - picture books. CRITIQUE PREFERENCES: (All critique submissions must include Art!) PB Dummy (Text + art), Dummy (art only), portfolios, Book covers

BIO: Adam is the Acquisitions Editor for picture books for Cardinal Rule Press. A former bookstore manager and nonprofit director, Adam earned his MFA in Fiction from Sarah Lawrence College and has written for both adults and children. He also works with writers on a freelance basis to shape and shine their stories. An active member of Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) and regular presenter at writing conferences, Adam lives in a hutch in Brooklyn, NY with his tween son and seriously adolescent bunny. www.adamdblackman.com. CRITIQUE PREFERENCES: PB (Fiction and NF), CB, and MG

BIO: Kade Dishmon (they/he) is an assistant editor at Peachtree Publishing acquiring YA and MG novels. Before joining Peachtree, Kade most recently acquired for Holiday House Publishing. A sucker for messy, complex protagonists; gorgeously lyrical line-level writing; and incisive themes, Kade is open to novels across genres excluding SFF not set in our world. You can find him on Bluesky @kadedishmon. CRITIQUE PREFERENCES: MG and YA fiction in the following genres: horror, thrillers, mystery, novels-in-verse, romance, romcoms, contemporary, magical realism, contemporary fantasy, paranormal, dystopian, and historical fiction.

BIO: Hillary Fazzari (she/her) joined the Bradford Literary Agency as the agency’s assistant in 2022 before moving into agenting in 2023. Prior to that, she served as a long-term reader and editor for another literary agency, interned at Writers House, and worked for Scholastic. She's a highly editorial agent and works with a broad range of categories and age bands from picture books to adult fiction and nonfiction. CRITIQUE PREFERENCES: PBs of any kind, chapter books of any kind, middle-grade of any kind, graphic novels for kids (text + illustration), YA of any kind, New Adult of any kind, and adult romance (including any subgenre: e.g., romantasy, horrormance, rom-com, dark romance, etc.), women's fiction (commercial and upmarket/literary), adult historical fiction, and NF for adults.

BIO: Madison is the Editorial Director of Mischief and Mayhem, two upcoming Young Adult imprints by Entangled Publishing. Though M&M don’t launch until 2026, Madison has been editing for over a decade––she was Entangled’s very first intern! Before taking up publishing full-time, she spent her years in academia, receiving a bachelor’s in Legal Psychology from NYU Shanghai, a Master’s in International Conflict from Vrije University Amsterdam, and an MPhil in Criminological Research from Cambridge University, studying alternative sentencing programs, cultural neuroscience, and the cognitive impact of imprisonment and rehabilitation. She has worked with bestselling authors Jess Lourey, Rebecca Yarros, and Elise Kova; her first major editing success was RITA Award-winning novel Forget Tomorrow by Pintip Dunn. CRITIQUE PREFERENCES: YA or NA only: Romantasy, contemporary fantasy, fantasy, magical realism, and dystopia.

BIO: Sandra Proudman (she/her/ella) is a literary associate and agent at Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency, assisting Marietta Zacker and representing a list of diverse authors and author-illustrators. She is passionate about bringing underrepresented voices to the forefront and is also a committee member of #LatinxPitch. When not busily immersed in all things publishing, you can find her spending time with her amazing husband and adorable toddler, catching up on all her shows, and attempting to take care of her many plants. She is also the editor of the YA Latinx SFF anthology, RELIT: 16 LATINX REMIXES OF CLASSIC STORIES, a contributor to THE HOUSE WHERE DEATH LIVES, and the author of the YA fantasy SALVACIÓN, all out now. She has an upcoming dual POV dystopian romance, LOVE IN THE OASIS releasing in fall 2026, with more fun news coming. CRITIQUE PREFERENCES: MG, YA, Mystery, Fantasy, Novels in-Verse, Graphic Novels (text +art), Dummy, Portfolio, Romance, Magical Realism, Horror, or Dystopia.