Faculty

Kendra Levin, VP and Editorial Director, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. Kendra Levin is the Vice President and Editorial Director of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, where she supervises a team of eleven editors and edits award-winning and bestselling authors. A contributor to Psychology Today, Kendra has been working with writers as a certified life coach for nearly twenty years and is the author of the self-help book The Hero Is You.

Jessixa Bagley is an award-winning children's book author/illustrator, fine artist, and graphic novelist. Her books have received numerous awards including: An SCBWI Golden Kite award, two Washington State Book Awards, and an Ezra Jack Keats Honor. She often illustrates for other writers and collaborates with her husband, Aaron Bagley. Jessixa also travels domestically and internationally to speak and teach children’s book writing and illustration. She lives in Seattle, WA.

Editorial director of Clarion and Allida at HarperCollins Children’s Books

Editorial Director at Sasquatch Books and Little Bigfoot

VP and Editorial Director, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Senior literary agent and illustration coordinator at KT Literary

Senior Literary Agent at Aevitas Creative Management

Founder and agent at KO Media Management

Author of GIRLS WITH GOALS: HOW WOMEN'S SOCCER TOOK OVER THE WORLD and YOUR FREEDOM, YOUR POWER: A KID'S GUIDE TO THE FIRST AMENDMENT. She spent eight years working as a literary agent, representing bestselling, award-winning and critically acclaimed books for children and teens. She is now a freelance editor, heading her own company, Mossy Pines Creative, which is named after the trees that surround her home on Mercer Island.

Ben Clanton is the Eisner Award-winning and NYT Bestselling author and illustrator of the Narwhal and Jelly series. His other books include the Tater Tales series, It Came in the Mail, and Mo's Mustache. Ben has collaborated with Andy Chou Musser on the award-winning Ploof series as well as with Andy Chou Musser and Corey Tabor on the picture book Papilio. Ben grew up in Kalispell, Montana and now lives in Seattle, WA.

Senior literary agent and illustration coordinator at KT Literary. She represents picture books, middle grade, graphic novels, and adult fiction. She was recently proud to represent the instant NYT and Indie Bestseller MILLIE FLEUR’S POISON GARDEN by Christy Mandin, and Indie Bestseller THE CRESCENT MOON TEAROOM by Stacy Sivinski. She lives in Sumner, WA with her husband and their two cats.

Kirby Larson is not particularly brave, unlike her great-grandmother -- the subject of the Newbery Honor book HATTIE BIG SKY-- who braved wolves and sub-zero temps on a homestead in Montana; or her daughter living with Crohn’s disease and the inspiration for their recent joint novel, GUT REACTION. Kirby is working to be braver in her writing, however, by branching out into early chapter books and going deeper in two historical novel works-in-progress and can’t wait to share what she’s learned with her SCBWI friends.

Kristin Varner is an award-winning author, illustrator and graphic novelist based in the Pacific Northwest. She grew up in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Utah before attending Rhode Island School of Design where she received her degree in Illustration and cultivated her love of children’s books. Her two middle grade graphic novels, Horse Trouble (First Second) and Dog Trouble (First Second) are both recipients of the ALA Best Graphic Novels for Children Reading List and the TLA Little Maverick Reading List awards. Dog Trouble is also a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Award winner. Her forthcoming middle grade graphic novel, Ski Bunny, releases in the fall of 2027 with Beach Lane Books.

Award-winning author and journalist. Her body of work includes the acclaimed title, A VOICE OF HOPE, GOODNIGHT GANESHA, and A RAKHI FOR RAKESH. She writes on themes of South Asian and Caribbean culture, STEM, nonfiction, and humor. Nadia holds a journalism degree from Emerson College. She blogs about books and has experience as keynote speaker and panelist at prestigious educational events.

Author of Crystal Kite Award winner Namaste Is A Greeting, ILA Notable My Name Is Long As A River, and the V. MALAR middle-grade series. When not writing, Suma volunteers with SCBWI and We Need Diverse Books or blogs about children’s literature.

YA indie author of spice-free, inclusive fantasy. Her most recent release is The Shield. Alexa is a huge nerd from the Pacific Northwest who knows Batman could beat Superman.

Cartoonist annd illustrator, best known as the author of the syndicated newspaper comic strip, “The Norm.” Michael earned a degree in film, worked as a documentary filmmaker, newspaper graphic editor and then visual effects art director at ILM, all while creating comics. “The Norm” was syndicated daily to newspapers and is now archived on the GoComics website. He is currently an art director at Amazon Publishing in Seattle, while writing and drawing new projects.

Third Place Books is the deliberate and intentional creation of a community around books and the ideas inside them. Founded in 1998 in Lake Forest Park, we opened a store in the Ravenna neighborhood of Seattle in 2002, and another in the Seward Park neighborhood in 2016. Third Place Books is a fun, comfortable, and safe place to browse, linger, lounge, relax, read, eat, laugh, play, talk, listen, and just watch the world go by.

Suzanne Kaufman is the #1 New York Times best-selling illustrator of All Are Welcome and recipient of The Ezra Jack Keats/Kerlan Memorial Fellowship. Her books include her own book Blue, A Friend for Ghost, Confiscated and illustrated work: Hello Dog/Hello Human, Wherever You Go, All Are Neighbors, Big Feelings, Take Your Pets to School Day, Let's Eat, Let's Make Music and 100 Bugs. Her books have been awarded Bank Street College Education Best Children’s Books of the Year, CCBC Choices recommended reads and seen in the Bologna Children’s Book Fair Spectator Child Exhibition and the Society of Illustrators Original Art Show.

Laurie Ann Thompson grew up in the fields and forests of northern Wisconsin and now lives between the mountains and the sea in Washington State. A volunteer naturalist and climate advocate, she writes to help her readers (and herself) better understand the world we all share and make it a better place for all. Her newest titles include the Meet Your World series.

President and Literary Agent at Britt Siess Creative Management

Associate Literary Agent at The Rights Factory

Junior Literary Agent at Britt Siess Creative Management

Senior Editor at Feiwel & Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group

Senior Literary Agent and Illustration Coordinator at KT Literary

Owner/freelance editor at Mossy Pines Creative, former literary agent

Senior Literary Agent at Aevitas Creative Management

Founder and Agent at KO Media Management