Click below to watch highlights from the 2017 Push to Publish Conference:
DATE: Saturday, October 14, 9am-5pm
LOCATION: Rosemont College, 1400 Montgomery Ave., Rosemont, PA 19010
Whether you are an established writer or just getting started, this one-day workshop will provide valuable resources you can use to get your work in print and online. Highlights include:
* Speed date with the editors and agents: Meet editors and agents who will review and offer feedback on your work (bring up to 5 pages of fiction, poetry, or nonfiction to review and discuss).
* Learn how to increase your chances of getting published.
* Discuss the latest writing trends with professionals in the community
* Get great marketing and networking tips to break into the competitive world of publishing.
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Click here for bios of agents, editors, and speakers.
9:00 Registration and Breakfast: Kistler Memorial Library (click here for campus map). Attendees will sign up for their speed dates at registration.
10:00 Keynote Speaker (Lawrence Auditorium): Karen Joy Fowler is the author of six novels and three short story collections. Her most recent novel, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, won the 2014 California Book Award. The Jane Austen Book Club spent thirteen weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list and was a New York Times Notable Book.
11:15 Speed Dating with Editors & Agents (Kistler Memorial Library)
12:30 Lunch & Networking (cafeteria)
1:15-2:15 Breakout Session I: panels and workshops (Lawrence Hall) (click here for campus map).
Panel: Tips for Making the Most of Your Submissions (fiction, nonfiction, poetry): This panel of editors will share their advice on how you can submit your work to better your chances of getting published. Panelists: Karen Rile (Cleaver/fiction), Tim Fitts (Painted Bride Quarterly/fiction), Rae Pagliarulo (Hippocampus/nonfiction), and Katie Budris (Glassworks/poetry). Moderator: Nathan Long
Panel: The Pros and Cons of Small & Independent Presses: Many authors have realized the benefits of working with small and independent presses: more control over your work, more attention to your title, more personal relationships with the press editors and staff. There are downsides, too, such as limited budgets and smaller distribution outlets. Hear from this panel of small and independent press editors to find out why you might consider going small. Panelists: Tara Tomczyk (Blydyn Square Books), Rahiem Brooks (Prodigy Gold Books), and Jennifer Cappello (Sunbury Press). Moderator: Nancy Kotkin
Workshop: Social Media Best Practices for Developing an Author Platform: Social media is an important and integral part of the author platform that can lead to getting published, selling more books, and developing relationships with readers, consumers, and press. This workshop will help authors learn how to start, grow, and maintain social media pages that appeal to publishers and readers. An outline of general best practices and fixes for the most common problems will be presented along with a Q&A session for any specific concerns. Each attendee should come prepared with a focus social media page to edit and populate during the workshop. Presenter: Cassie Drumm, Associate Digital Marketing Manager, Running Press
Panel: Writing Diverse Characters: Representation for all kinds of people—regardless of their color, orientation or physical attributes—matter. Join this panel for a discussion on diversity in literature and the process for writing diverse characters. Panelists: Sudipta Bardham-Quallen, Vernita Hall and Michael Northen. Moderator: Gregory Frost
2:30-3:30 Breakout Session II: panels and workshops (Lawrence Hall) (click here for campus map).
Panel: Write-Life Balance: How do you find time to write while juggling work, family, and your many other obligations? A panel of published authors discuss ways they create “Write-Life Balance.” Panelists include: Jennifer Fenn, author of Flight Risk,; Meghan Rogers, author of the Raven Files series (Read our interview with Meghan here); Vernita Hall, an award-winning nonfiction author and poet (Read our interview with Vernita here); Cassandra Hirsch, author of the Victorian-era romance novel, Under the Linden Tree, and Molly Lazer, author of Owl Eyes (Spring 2018, Fire & Ice YA). Moderator: Merry Jones
Panel: Writing for Children & YA: This panel of published authors and agents will discuss the unique Childrens and Young Adult markets and offer tips for submitting to agents and publishers looking for work. Panelists: Ed Briant, Karen Pokras, Alyssa Eisner Henkin and Cari Lamba. Moderator: Tawni Waters
Creative Nonfiction Workshop: Heart, Mind, Body: from Process to Publish: This workshop’s main goal is to crossover our attendees from the Ethos, Pathos, Logos triangle to something more palpable for the heart, mind, body of Creative Nonfiction and Personal Essay. We know there is room for some of the messages in the traditional triangle, but in less formal essay calls, sometimes the message is more of a lessoned learned, more of a call for action in the self to inspire others, rather than a get up and donate, or rally the masses kind of call for action. With Cathy and Elaine’s Three Part Plan, attendees can learn to slay their dragons and make publishers hear their heroic tales! Presenters: Cathy T. Colborn & Elaine Paliatsas-Haughey
Workshop: Managing Publicity Whether you’re traditionally published at a major publishing house, publishing with an indie press, or self-publishing, you need a marketing plan. In this session you’ll learn what a marketing plan is, essential components, timeline, execution, and review sample successful marketing plans. You’ll come away with ideas and solid action steps to give your book the best possible chance for success! Presenter: Andrea Thatcher, Marketing Manager and Book Publicist, Smith Publicity
3:45-5 Breakout Session III: MEET THE AGENTS
Agents share their tips for finding the right agent and selling your work. This interactive panel will include plenty of time for Q&A so you can get an insider’s perspectives on the publishing market today. Panelists: Marie Lamba, Cari Lamba, Caitlin McDonald, Sheree Bykofsky, Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Jordy Albert and Damian McNicholl. Moderator: Carla Spataro
5-6: Happy Hour & Networking: meet new friends and share lessons learned.
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Fee: $95 (Students, Seniors $85) includes Breakfast, Lunch, and one Speed-date Pass. Additional Speed-date passes can be purchased for $5 each. (No more than 3 total recommended.) [50% off for Rosemont students, faculty, and alumni — must provide valid proof of affiliation at registration]
PARKING: You may park in ANY lot on the Rosemont Campus. You do not need to worry about the signs about permits. See the campus map for lot locations.
PRE-CONFERENCE EVENTS:
Poetry Master Class: Translating Idea to Image in Poetry
Poems that are nothing but a loose conglomeration of ideas are difficult for readers to relate to and engage with. In this class, author and Rosemont writer-in-residence Tawni Waters will talk about ways to ground your poems, making them gripping and grip-able (meaning readers can grab onto something tangible in them and enthusiastically ride the waves of your poems to their glorious conclusions). We will read great poems together. We will think together. We will write together. We will workshop poems together. We will be dazzling together. Bring your a pencil or a laptop, and prepare to be magnificent.
Where: Rosemont College, 1400 Montgomery Ave., Rosemont, PA 19010; Lawrence Hall, Room 204
When: Friday, October 13, 11-4, 2017
Fee: $95 includes lunch (Students, Seniors $85; Rosemont student/faculty/alumni get 50% discount).
Master Class with Karen Joy Fowler: BALD-FACED LIES
Where: Rosemont College, 1400 Montgomery Ave., Rosemont, PA 19010; Kaul Forum (click here for campus map).
PARKING: park in the lot by Kaul (see campus map)
In this workshop we’ll focus on fiction writing as a subset of telling stories as if they were truth; the common practice we all know as lying. Everyone knows how to tell a lie, we’ve all had years of experience to teach us what works and what arouses suspicions. These same techniques can and should be applied to our fiction — it’s just a matter of remembering to use those things we already know in the service of the suspension of disbelief. Though exercises and discussion, we’ll lift some of the strategies of nonfiction and use them to create a similar sense of authority in an entirely made-up story.
When: Friday, October 13, 11-4, 2017
Fee: $95 includes lunch (Students, Seniors $85; Rosemont student/faculty/alumni get 50% discount).
Click here for bios of agents, editors, and speakers.
Agents – Speed Date
Alyssa Eisner Henkin
NOTE: PANELIST
Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Vice President, Trident Media Group began her publishing career at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. She loved the craft of editing, but soon realized her inner-entrepreneur was hankering to agent. In December of 2006 Alyssa became Trident’s first agent to specialize in books for young people. Alyssa is proud to represent WONDER by R.J. Palacio, soon to be a major motion picture, The 2017 Printz Honor THE PASSION OF DOLSSA by Julie Berry, and two-time Caldecott Honor author, Jen Bryant, among many others.
SEEKING: Alyssa is actively seeking standalone middle grade fiction that warms one’s heart and portrays under-represented voices, illustrated nonfiction or hybrid fiction/nonfiction that can sustain a series of Magic Treehouse proportion, and atmospheric YA novels that feels ripe for Sofia Coppola adaptations. Please send queries to ahenkin@tridentmediagroup.com.
Caitlin McDonald
NOTE: PANELIST
Caitlin McDonald joined the Donald Maass Literary Agency in 2015, and was previously at Sterling Lord Literistic. Caitlin grew up overseas and has a BA in Creative Writing from Columbia University.
SEEKING: She represents adult and young adult science-fiction, fantasy, horror, and related subgenres, as well as contemporary fiction about geeky characters. She is particularly looking for stories with diverse casts and fresh takes on popular tropes or important topics of today’s world; genre-bending and crossover works; complex female leads and female-focused relationships; and any kind of heist. She also handles a small amount of nonfiction in geeky areas, with a focus on food, feminist theory/women’s issues, and pop culture.
Cari Lamba
NOTE: PANELIST
Cari Lamba (@CariLamba) is an Associate Literary Agent at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency. She interned for the agency for eight years prior to officially joining the team of agents. It wasn’t long into her internship before she knew she wanted to join the publishing world and help writers bring their books to life. Cari graduated from Franklin and Marshall College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature. She also studied literature at The Advanced Studies in England Program. She has experience as a bookseller and in content writing and publicity for online publications, such as Spoon University and Her Campus.
SEEKING: She is currently looking to represent middle grade fiction and adult commercial fiction with a special interest in mysteries and culinary tie-ins.
Connor Eck
Prior to finding a home at Lucinda Literary in 2016, Connor began his career at The Weinstein Company and then as a production assistant for CBS Television Studios. He majored in English at Union College, where he was quarterback and captain of the football team and wrote a screenplay for his thesis that became a finalist selection at the Woods Hole Film Festival. Westchester, NY born and bred, Connor makes the most of his daily commute, reading queries and editing manuscripts on the train, though he doesn’t quite fit in amongst the throng of bankers. When he is not reading or writing, he most enjoys playing with his dog, Cash, an Aussiedoodle with one blue eye! In addition to working at Lucinda Literary, Connor is a freelance writer for golf.com, where you can catch him moderating live major championship blogs!
SEEKING: Connor is actively looking for middle grade, young adult, and adult fiction, as well as nonfiction. His interests are diverse, though he is particularly drawn to stories with emotional resonance and vivid characters. More than anything he is looking for authors with whom he can build lasting relationships.
Damian McNicholl
NOTE: PANELIST
Damian McNicholl grew up in Northern Ireland and lives now in the US. A former attorney, he’s now an associate agent at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency and keen to help talented published and unpublished writers achieve their goals. He’s also the author of the critically acclaimed coming-of-age novel A Son Called Gabriel (recently republished) and historical novel The Moment of Truth from Pegasus Books.
SEEKING: He’s looking for great nonfiction and fiction that appeals to a wide audience and makes people think, laugh and sob. In fiction, he represents works that hit the sweet spot between literary and commercial. Nonfiction interests are memoir, biography, history, investigative journalism and current events, especially cultural, LGBT and legal issues that can help lead to meaningful change in society.
Jordy Albert
NOTE: PANELIST
Jordy Albert is a Literary Agent and co-founder of The Booker Albert Literary Agency. She holds a B.A. in English from Pennsylvania State University, and a M.A. from Millersville University of Pennsylvania. She has worked with Marisa Corvisiero during her time at the L. Perkins Agency and the Corvisiero Literary Agency.
SEEKING: Jordy is looking for young adult contemporary, sci-fi, and fantasy (romance is a plus). She’s also looking for smart, sexy contemporary and historical romance (Jordy definitely has a soft spot for a fantastic Regency). She’s drawn to strong, intelligent characters (snarky, but still likable). Please note that while it isn’t necessarily a deal breaker, she tends to shy away from novels with trigger topics, such as suicide and any type of abuse.
Marie Lamba
NOTE: PANELIST
Marie Lamba (www.marielamba.com) is author of the young adult novels What I Meant… (Random House), Over My Head and Drawn, and of the picture books Green, Green (Farrar Straus Giroux) and A Day So Gray (upcoming through Clarion). Her articles appear in more than 100 publications, and she’s a frequent contributor to Writer’s Digest. She has worked as an editor, an award-winning public relations writer, and a book publicist, has taught classes on novel writing and on author promotion, and belongs to The Liars Club. Marie is an agent at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency.
SEEKING: As an agent, Marie is currently looking for young adult and middle grade fiction, along with general and women’s fiction and some memoir. She is also open to submissions from picture book authors or illustrators who are already established, or whose work she has requested through conferences. Overall, books that are moving and/or hilarious are especially welcome. She is NOT interested in science fiction or high fantasy (though she is open to speculative elements and loves a good ghost story), category romance (though romantic elements are welcomed), non-fiction, or books that feature graphic violence.
Sheree Bykofsky
NOTE: PANELIST
Sheree Bykofsky founded her successful literary agency in New York City in 1991. She represents authors in almost every adult genre to almost every publisher. Sheree is also the best-selling co-author of five editions of the best-selling Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Published and over 30 other books. And Sheree is proud to be an adjunct professor of publishing at Rosemont.
SEEKING: We represent most genres. We are particularly interested in business and health and all prescriptive non-fiction. We very selectively represent upmarket commercial fiction. No sci fi or children’s. We welcome queries in most genres.
Editors – Speed Date
Alison Hicks
Alison Hicks is the founder of Greater Philadelphia Wordshop Studio, which offers community-based writing workshops. She is also the author of poetry collections You Who Took the Boat Out and Kiss, a chapbook Falling Dreams, a novella, Love: A Story of Images, and an anthology, Prompted. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Green Hills Literary Lantern, and has appeared in Eclipse, Fifth Wednesday, Gargoyle, Louisville Review, Passager, Permafrost, Poet Lore, and Whiskey Island, among other journals. Awards include the 2011 Philadelphia City Paper Poetry Prize and two Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fellowships. She will be happy to read literary or mainstream fiction, nonfiction and poetry.
GENRES: FICTION, NONFICTION, POETRY
Courtney K. Bambrick
COURTNEY K. BAMBRICK is poetry editor of the regional literary magazine Philadelphia Stories. Her poetry has appeared online or in print in Apiary, Certain Circuits, Dirty Napkin, Philadelphia Poets, Mad Poets Review, and Schuylkill Valley Journal. She performed as part of the 2016 Welcome to Boog City Festival. Her chapbook Rape Baby was a runner up in the 2013 Pavement Saw chapbook competition and most of it was published as “Caring for Your Rape” in the Body Map series at The Fanzine, curated by Sarah Rose Etter. Courtney has taught composition, creative writing, and literature at a number of colleges and universities in the Philadelphia area. In addition to poetry, Courtney has written and directed adaptations of plays and musicals for young people. She coordinates the Children’s Arts Program at Old Academy Players in Philadelphia. She lives outside the city with poet, painter, and musician, Peter Baroth.
GENRE: POETRY
Fran Metzman
Prize-winning author Fran Metzman is the fiction editor for Schuylkill Valley Journal. Fran, a graduate of Moore College of Art and a Master’s degree from University of Pennsylvania, co-authored a novel, Ugly Cookies, by Pella Press. Her short story collection, The Hungry Heart: Stories, was published by Wilderness House Press, February 1, 2012. In 2009 she won a nomination for a Dzanc Books award, “Best of the Web.” In addition to publishing numerous (25) short stories in various literary journals, she has a novel being published by Wild River Publishing, The Cha-Cha Babes of Pelican Way, February, 2018. Her teaching credits include: Adjunct professor at Rosemont College graduate school, Temple University at OLLI (creative writing and memoir). Other writing workshops, memoir/creative writing, have been given at universities and colleges such as Bryn Mawr, Penn State, Delaware, U. of Penn, etc.
GENRES: FICTION, NONFICTION
Grant Clauser
Grant Clauser is the poetry editor for Cleaver Magazine. Grant is the author of four poetry books: The Magician’s Handbook (PS Books), Reckless Constellations (winner of the 2016 Cider Press Review Book Award), Necessary Myths (Broadkill River Press) and The Trouble with Rivers (Foothills Publishing). His poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Folio, The Good Man Project, Gargoyle, Painted Bride Quarterly, Seattle Review, Southern Poetry Review, Tar River Poetry and others. In 2010 he was the Montgomery County Poet Laureate, selected by Robert Bly. In 2014 he was a guest poet of the Sharjah International Book Fair in the United Arab Emirates. He also writes about electronics, teaches in the Rosemont College Writers’ Studio and chases trout with a stick. Grant’s blog is www.uniambic.com.
GENRE: POETRY
Jennifer Cappello
NOTE: PANELIST
Jennifer has been editing for Sunbury Press since 2011 and managing the editing staff since 2015. She is an editor, writer, and mother of three—five, if you count the dogs—living with her husband and family in Linglestown, PA. She holds an AA in Secondary English Education from Harrisburg Area Community College, a BA in English from Penn State, and an MFA in Creative Writing with a certificate in publishing from Chatham University. Her partial novel, “Fixed,” won runner-up for best thesis in Chatham University’s 2013 fiction category. She established an independent press while at Chatham, publishing a poetry chapbook (Chalk & Fire, Melrose Publishing, 2012) for an up-and-coming poet. Jennifer has served as editor for two college literary journals, has had poems published in HACC’s Wildwood Journal, and serves annually as a Scholastic Writing Contest judge. She loves to read, write, knit, cook, and travel. Submissions: We read submissions from every category and genre. Lately, we’re looking to develop our nonfiction (particularly war memoir), historical fiction, and literary fiction book lists, but any quality work would be considered.
GENRES: FICTION, NONFICTION
Jordan Heil
Jordan Heil is the managing producer of Schuylkill Valley Journal Online, the online publication of Schuylkill Valley Journal. He is a writer and educator living in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia. By day, he is the Assistant Director of the Writing Center at Saint Joseph’s University, where he is also an adjunct instructor of English. By night, he publishes about his passion for podcasting at the Bello Collective and produces a forthcoming cheese podcast with the ladies behind Collective Creamery. In his free time, he works as an ESL Specialist in the Drexel University Writing Center and gazes longingly at beagle puppies on Instagram.
GENRE: POETRY
Karen Rile
NOTE: PANELIST
Karen Rile teaches creative writing (fiction and nonfiction) at the University of Pennsylvania, and is the founding and chief editor of Cleaver Magazine, an online quarterly lit mag that publishes fiction, poetry, flash, and creative nonfiction. Cleaver also publishes weekly features including book reviews, craft essay, podcasts, radio plays, and a weekly advice column, Ask June. For more information, visit www.cleavermagazine.com. She is also the author of a novel, Winter Music (Little, Brown) and numerous works of short fiction and nonfiction. Her work has appeared in journals such as The Southern Review, American Writing, Painted Bride Quarterly, Creative Nonfiction, and many others.
GENRES: FICTION, NONFICTION
Lorri Darbes
Lorri serves as the fiction editor for the Rathalla Review at Rosemont College. She received her Master of Arts in English from West Chester University in May 2016. She is currently in her second year at Rosemont College as a double degree student in the MFA Creative Writing and MA Publishing programs. She is a member of the PA Press Club and the West Point Society of Philadelphia.
GENRE: FICTION
Michael Northen
NOTE: PANELIST
Michael Northen edits Wordgathering, A Journal of Disability and Poetry and is co-editor of the anthology Beauty is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability and the disability short fiction anthology, The Right Way to Be Crippled and Naked. He is a founding member of the Disability Literature Consortium. An educator for more than 40 years, Northen has taught adults with physical disabilities, women on public assistance, prisoners, and rural and inner-city children. As far as genres go, Michael is open to all poetry, short fiction, literary essay, personal essay/life writing and YA.
GENRES: FICTION, NONFICTION, POETRY
*Please note that Michael’s main area of expertise is in disability related writing, that is work written by people with disabilities or about disability. Michael does not know ASL, however, if there are D/deaf writers who would want to submit work, he would be glad to provide a written response (unless, of course, an ASL interpreter is available.) Similarly, if there are blind writers who wish to submit audio files, he would be glad to respond to those.
Mitchell Sommers
Mitchell Sommers is the fiction editor for Philadelphia Stories. He is also a columnist for LNP, the Lancaster, Pennsylvania daily newspaper. He practices law in Lancaster County, concentrating in the area of consumer bankruptcy. He received his MFA from the University of New Orleans. He’s currently working on a novel set in colonial Pennsylvania.
GENRE: FICTION
Nathan Long
NOTE: MODERATOR
Nathan Alling Long is a fiction editor at Philadelphia Stories. Nathan lives in Philadelphia and teaches creative writing at Stockton University. His work has appeared in various journals, including Tin House, Glimmer Train, Story Quarterly, and Crab Orchard Review, and have won the 2015 international Open Road fiction award and the 2017 international OWT Story Prize. His fifty-story flash collection The Origin of Doubt will be released by Press 53 in Spring 2018. He can be found at https://blogs.stockton.edu/longn/.
GENRES: FICTION, NONFICTION, FLASH FICTION
Rae Pagliarulo
NOTE: PANELIST
Rae Pagliarulo is the Writing Life column editor for Hippocampus Magazine. Over the years, she has edited and read creative nonfiction and poetry for such publications as Rathalla Review, Philadelphia Stories, and Literary Mama. She has appeared in several reading series, including Excuse My Dust and TireFire. While earning her MFA from Rosemont College, Rae also built a career as a nonprofit Development Director, where her writing skills have helped her to earn support for social service and arts organizations. Her essays, poems, and articles have appeared in Philadelphia Stories, Full Grown People, Ghost Town, bedfellows, New South, Hippocampus, The Manifest-Station, Quail Bell, and the Brevity Blog. Her work is anthologized in The Best of Philadelphia Stories: 10th Anniversary Edition. She is also the 2014 recipient of the Sandy Crimmins National Poetry Prize, and a 2015 Pushcart Prize nominee.
GENRE: NONFICTION
Rahiem Brooks
NOTE: PANELIST
Rahiem Jerome Brooks heads Prodigy Gold Books (PGB) as CEO and Publisher, an up-and-coming small press headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. PGB is devoted to the business and promotion of novels. He is a crime novelist and a member of the Mystery Writer’s of America. His debut thriller, LAUGH NOW won 2010 African-Americans on the Move Book Club’s (AAMBC) Book of the Year & he earned 2011 AAMBC Author of the Year. LAUGH NOW also won the Most Creative Plot at the DMV Expo’s Creative Excellence Awards. Rahiem was also nominated at the 2011 & 2012 African-American Literary Awards for Mystery of the Year for Con Test and Murder in Germantown. Prodigy Gold Books is seeking: commercial YA and adult projects in the following genres: speculative fiction (horror, SFF, and all sub-genres), African-American fiction, mystery/suspense, thrillers, historical fiction, and general/literary fiction. We’re looking for strong plots that are ninety-percent complete and needs the Prodigy team to bring out that last ten-percent.
GENRES: FICTION, NONFICTION
Tara Tomczyk
NOTE: PANELIST
Tara Tomczyk is editor in chief at Blydyn Square Books, headquartered in Lansdale, PA and Kenilworth, NJ. She has been a professional editor for over 21 years. She began her career at Enslow Publishers in New Jersey, where she specialized in editing nonfiction books for the young adult market, working primarily as a history, social studies, and biography editor. She then moved to McGraw-Hill, where she developed textbooks and other educational materials. She has also worked for Chelsea House Publishers/Facts on File, where she served as the executive editor in charge of science titles. In 2005, she started her own editorial services company. She eventually narrowed her focus to book publishing and helped launch Blydyn Square Books in 2015. Blydyn Square Books specializes in literary fiction, but will consider any title that fits its company motto: Books That Make You Think. Tara’s favorite part of her job is discovering talented new writers—especially people who have never been published before—and working with them over the years to develop their writing. She will consider anything other than poetry and children’s books, with a main focus on literary and contemporary fiction.
GENRES: FICTION, NONFICTION
Tim Fitts
NOTE: PANELIST
Tim Fitts has served at the editorial staff of The Painted Bride Quarterly since 2013 and is a frequent guest on PBQ’s “Slushpile” podcast. Tim lives and works in Philadelphia. He is the author of two short story collections, Hypothermia, and Go Home and Cry for Yourselves. He teaches Creative Writing at the Curtis Institute of Music and Penn State Brandywine. His short stories have been published by journals such as The Gettysburg Review, Granta, CutBank, among many others.
GENRE: FICTION
Speakers
Please note that speakers are not available for speed dates unless otherwise noted.
Alyssa Eisner Henkin
NOTE: SPEED DATE AGENT
Alyssa Eisner Henkin, Vice President, Trident Media Group began her publishing career at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. She loved the craft of editing, but soon realized her inner-entrepreneur was hankering to agent. In December of 2006 Alyssa became Trident’s first agent to specialize in books for young people. Alyssa is proud to represent WONDER by R.J. Palacio, soon to be a major motion picture, The 2017 Printz Honor THE PASSION OF DOLSSA by Julie Berry, and two-time Caldecott Honor author, Jen Bryant, among many others.
Andrea Thatcher
Andrea Kiliany Thatcher has worn many hats in the book publishing industry, from bookseller and marketing and social media consultant for independent bookstores and the New Atlantic Independent Bookstore Association, to in-house marketing experience at a small independent publishers, to her current role as marketing manager and book publicist at Smith Publicity. She has also reviewed books for a variety of print and online publications.
Caitlin McDonald
NOTE: SPEED DATE AGENT
Caitlin McDonald joined the Donald Maass Literary Agency in 2015, and was previously at Sterling Lord Literistic. Caitlin grew up overseas and has a BA in Creative Writing from Columbia University.
Cari Lamba
NOTE: SPEED DATE AGENT
Cari Lamba (@CariLamba) is an Associate Literary Agent at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency. She interned for the agency for eight years prior to officially joining the team of agents. It wasn’t long into her internship before she knew she wanted to join the publishing world and help writers bring their books to life. Cari graduated from Franklin and Marshall College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature. She also studied literature at The Advanced Studies in England Program. She has experience as a bookseller and in content writing and publicity for online publications, such as Spoon University and Her Campus.
Carla Spataro
Carla Spataro is the MFA program director at Rosemont College in suburban Philadelphia and the editorial director of Philadelphia Stories and PS Books. She is a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts grant winner for fiction and her short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in literary journals including The Baltimore Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, Switchgrass Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, Permafrost and others. Her work has also been anthologized in Another Breath, Forgotten Philadelphia, Extraordinary Gifts, and 50 Over 50. In 2013, she was awarded the Award for Distinguished Teaching at the Graduate Level by Rosemont College and several of her students have recently signed contracts with big five publishers.
Cassandra Hirsch
Cassandra Hirsch is a Canadian transplant, but has lived and written in Philadelphia since 1989. Once a freelance writer, she finally decided to get her MFA in Creative Writing at Rosemont College while her kids were still at home, about 12 years ago. She’s been writing stories since about age 12, always in a peculiarly Victorian voice, and she published her first novel, Under the Linden Tree (a Victorian-era romance), in 2012 with a Canadian small press. She’s been teaching first-year writing at Drexel University since 2008, and is now working on a YA project with a decidedly contemporary voice.
Cassie Drumm
Cassie Drumm is the Associate Digital Marketing Manager for Running Press Book Publishers. She is an alum of the Rosemont College Publishing Program (Class of ’16) and has a passion for bringing attention to diverse and issue-driven literature through digital and social media. Cassie has been featured in IBPA Independent Magazine and A New Look on Books and has becoming a rising authority on social media strategy for authors and publishers.
Cathy Colborn
Cathy T. Colborn is published in nonfiction from Fine Reads Press. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Rosemont College. She is the author of Madame Lola’s Marvelously Amazing Medicine Show. Her new novel, Weekly Furapy (Bizarro Pulp Press, an Imprint of Journalstone Publishing) will be out at the end of 2017. She is the creator of the literary journal Philly Flash Inferno, and she is the Creative Director on Elaine Paliatsas-Haughey’s project: Scars and Tattoos: The Stories on Our Skin. She teaches English Composition for Atlantic Cape Community College and Camden County College.
Damian McNicholl
NOTE: SPEED DATE AGENT
Damian McNicholl grew up in Northern Ireland and lives now in the US. A former attorney, he’s now an associate agent at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency and keen to help talented published and unpublished writers achieve their goals. He’s also the author of the critically acclaimed coming-of-age novel A Son Called Gabriel (recently republished) and historical novel The Moment of Truth from Pegasus Books.
Ed Asher Briant
Ed Asher Briant is the author and illustrator of over a dozen books, including picture books, early readers, graphic novels, and young adult novels. He illustrates the Petal and Poppy graphic novels with his wife Lisa Jahn Clough for Houghton Mifflin’s Green Light series, and he writes and illustrates the weekly webcomic, Tales from the Slush Pile, for Publisher’s Weekly. He received a Flying Start Award from Publisher’s Weekly for his picture book Paper Parade, and was noted as a Newcomer to Watch by the Horn Book for his picture book Don’t Look Now. With a MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College, Ed has worked extensively with graduate students in developing their careers, especially in the children’s and YA industry. He takes great pride in helping students find an authentic voice in their work, followed by a path to publication. Ed has been teaching at Rowan since 2011, and is currently working on a picture book, The Platypus of Sleep, and a young adult novel, The Wrong Stuff.
Elaine Paliatsas-Haughey
Elaine is an educator and recently graduated from Rowan University with her MA in Writing. She is currently working on her memoir “Heart” about the year she was diagnosed with congenital heart failure and waited for a heart transplant at the age of 13. She is also launching Scars & Tattoos: Our Stories on Our Skin, a creative nonfiction magazine, with Cathy T. Colborn. Her work has been published in Glassworks, The City Key, Philly Flash Inferno, and Philadelphia Stories.
Gregory Frost
GREGORY FROST is a writer of fantasy, dark fantasy, and science fiction for adults and young adults. His most recent book-length work, the Shadowbridge duology, was a finalist for the James Tiptree Award and an American Library Association Best Fantasy Novel pick for 2009. His collaborative novelette with author Michael Swanwick, “Lock Up Your Chickens and Daughters, H’ard and Andy Are Come to Town,” won a 2015 Asimov’s Magazine Readers Award. He has been Fiction Writing Workshop Director at Swarthmore College since 2004.
Blog: http://www.gregoryfrost.com
Facebook: gregory.frost1
Twitter: gregory_frost
Jennifer Cappello
NOTE: SPEED DATE EDITOR
Jennifer has been editing for Sunbury Press since 2011 and managing the editing staff since 2015. She is an editor, writer, and mother of three—five, if you count the dogs—living with her husband and family in Linglestown, PA. She holds an AA in Secondary English Education from Harrisburg Area Community College, a BA in English from Penn State, and an MFA in Creative Writing with a certificate in publishing from Chatham University. Her partial novel, “Fixed,” won runner-up for best thesis in Chatham University’s 2013 fiction category. She established an independent press while at Chatham, publishing a poetry chapbook (Chalk & Fire, Melrose Publishing, 2012) for an up-and-coming poet. Jennifer has served as editor for two college literary journals, has had poems published in HACC’s Wildwood Journal, and serves annually as a Scholastic Writing Contest judge. She loves to read, write, knit, cook, and travel.
Jennifer Fenn
Jennifer Fenn has been filling notebooks since she was in elementary school. “Flight Risk,” published by Roaring Brook Press, is her first young adult novel. Fenn is terrified of corn fields but has jumped out of a plane, eats her cereal without milk, and has run a marathon. She’s a graduate of Lycoming College and Rosemont College’s MFA program. She’s represented by Amy Tipton of Signature Literary, and lives with her husband, two daughters and Scottish terrier in Downingtown, PA.
Jordy Albert
NOTE: SPEED DATE AGENT
Jordy Albert is a Literary Agent and co-founder of The Booker Albert Literary Agency. She holds a B.A. in English from Pennsylvania State University, and a M.A. from Millersville University of Pennsylvania. She has worked with Marisa Corvisiero during her time at the L. Perkins Agency and the Corvisiero Literary Agency.
Karen Pokras
Karen Pokras writes middle grade fiction under the name Karen Pokras Toz. A self-proclaimed coffee-addict and lover of daisies, Karen spent fifteen years as a tax accountant, writing solely in numbers. When the voices in her head insisted she write in words, she discovered a passion for storytelling. Her books have won several indie awards for excellence in Children’s and Pre-Teen Literature. Karen is a member of the Society of the Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). A native of Connecticut, Karen now lives outside of Philadelphia with her family. For more information please visit www.karentoz.com.
Karen Rile
NOTE: SPEED DATE EDITOR
Karen Rile teaches creative writing (fiction and nonfiction) at the University of Pennsylvania, and is the founding and chief editor of Cleaver Magazine, an online quarterly lit mag that publishes fiction, poetry, flash, and creative nonfiction. Cleaver also publishes weekly features including book reviews, craft essay, podcasts, radio plays, and a weekly advice column, Ask June. For more information, visit www.cleavermagazine.com. She is also the author of a novel, Winter Music (Little, Brown) and numerous works of short fiction and nonfiction. Her work has appeared in journals such as The Southern Review, American Writing, Painted Bride Quarterly, Creative Nonfiction, and many others.
Katie Budris
Katie Budris currently serves as Editor in Chief of Glassworks literary magazine and is a writing instructor at Rowan University and Community College of Philadelphia. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Roosevelt University and her poems have appeared in over a dozen journals, most recently Philadelphia Stories, Border Crossing, Temenos, From the Depths (Haunted Waters Press), and the anthology Crossing Lines (Main Street Rag). Her debut chapbook, Prague in Synthetics (2015), is available from Finishing Line Press. See more of her work at: katiebudris.com.
Marie Lamba
NOTE: SPEED DATE AGENT
Marie Lamba (www.marielamba.com) is author of the young adult novels What I Meant… (Random House), Over My Head and Drawn, and of the picture books Green, Green (Farrar Straus Giroux) and A Day So Gray (upcoming through Clarion). Her articles appear in more than 100 publications, and she’s a frequent contributor to Writer’s Digest. She has worked as an editor, an award-winning public relations writer, and a book publicist, has taught classes on novel writing and on author promotion, and belongs to The Liars Club. Marie is an agent at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency.
Meghan Rogers
Meghan Rogers has been telling stories since she could talk and writing creatively since she was first introduced to the concept in third grade. She spent her high school years completing her first novel and has been actively writing ever since. After college, Meghan went on to work with high school writers while earning her MFA in Creative Writing from Rosemont College. She is the author of the Raven Files series (Crossing the Line and Enemy Exposure) and currently lives in the Philadelphia area.
Merry Jones
Merry Jones has written non-fiction books (including BIRTHMOTHERS), humor (including I LOVE HIM, BUT…) and fiction ( including the Zoe Hayes mysteries, the Harper Jennings thrillers and the Elle Harrison suspense novels). After running her own video production company, Jones began writing books at age 42. Since then she’s taught writing at Temple University and Delaware County Community College, her work has been translated into seven languages (including Chinese and Sanskrit), and she frequently contributed magazines like Glamour and American Woman. Jones is a member of the Authors Guild, International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America and The Philadelphia Liars Club, and she lives in Philadelphia.
Michael Northen
NOTE: SPEED DATE EDITOR
Michael Northen edits Wordgathering, A Journal of Disability and Poetry and is co-editor of the anthology Beauty is a Verb: The New Poetry of Disability and the disability short fiction anthology, The Right Way to Be Crippled and Naked. He is a founding member of the Disability Literature Consortium. An educator for more than 40 years, Northen has taught adults with physical disabilities, women on public assistance, prisoners, and rural and inner-city children.
Molly Lazer
Molly Lazer holds an MFA in creative writing from Rosemont College. A former editor at Marvel Comics, she now teaches reading, writing, and drama at a high school outside of Philadelphia. Her work has been featured in journals including LIT, Gone Lawn, Silver Blade, and scissors & spackle, and her first novel, Owl Eyes, will be published in Spring 2018 by Fire & Ice YA. Find out more at www.mollylazer.com.
Nancy Kotkin
Nancy Kotkin is a freelance writer, editor, and publisher currently finishing up her MFA in creative writing and MA in publishing. She runs a small press and Brave New Words, a company that offers writing workshops and retreats as well as editing and publishing services.
Nathan Long
NOTE: SPEED DATE EDITOR
Nathan Alling Long is a fiction editor at Philadelphia Stories. Nathan lives in Philadelphia and teaches creative writing at Stockton University. His work has appeared in various journals, including Tin House, Glimmer Train, Story Quarterly, and Crab Orchard Review, and have won the 2015 international Open Road fiction award and the 2017 international OWT Story Prize. His fifty-story flash collection The Origin of Doubt will be released by Press 53 in Spring 2018. He can be found at https://blogs.stockton.edu/longn/.
Rae Pagliarulo
NOTE: SPEED DATE EDITOR
Rae Pagliarulo is the Writing Life column editor for Hippocampus Magazine. Over the years, she has edited and read creative nonfiction and poetry for such publications as Rathalla Review, Philadelphia Stories, and Literary Mama. She has appeared in several reading series, including Excuse My Dust and TireFire. While earning her MFA from Rosemont College, Rae also built a career as a nonprofit Development Director, where her writing skills have helped her to earn support for social service and arts organizations. Her essays, poems, and articles have appeared in Philadelphia Stories, Full Grown People, Ghost Town, bedfellows, New South, Hippocampus, The Manifest-Station, Quail Bell, and the Brevity Blog. Her work is anthologized in The Best of Philadelphia Stories: 10th Anniversary Edition. She is also the 2014 recipient of the Sandy Crimmins National Poetry Prize, and a 2015 Pushcart Prize nominee.
Rahiem Brooks
NOTE: SPEED DATE EDITOR
Rahiem Jerome Brooks heads Prodigy Gold Books (PGB) as CEO and Publisher, an up-and-coming small press headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. PGB is devoted to the business and promotion of novels. He is a crime novelist and a member of the Mystery Writer’s of America. His debut thriller, LAUGH NOW won 2010 African-Americans on the Move Book Club’s (AAMBC) Book of the Year & he earned 2011 AAMBC Author of the Year. LAUGH NOW also won the Most Creative Plot at the DMV Expo’s Creative Excellence Awards. Rahiem was also nominated at the 2011 & 2012 African-American Literary Awards for Mystery of the Year for Con Test and Murder in Germantown.
Sheree Bykofsky
NOTE: SPEED DATE AGENT
Sheree Bykofsky founded her successful literary agency in New York City in 1991. She represents authors in almost every adult genre to almost every publisher. Sheree is also the best-selling co-author of five editions of the best-selling Complete Idiot’s Guide to Getting Published and over 30 other books. And Sheree is proud to be an adjunct professor of publishing at Rosemont.
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen
Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen is an award-winning children’s book author whose books include Duck Duck Moose (a CBC Children’s Choice Award Finalist), Tyrannosaurus Wrecks (a Junior Library Guild Selection), Brobot Bedtime, and Chicks Run Wild. She frequently speaks about the craft of writing at schools and conferences all around the world. She lives in Princeton, NJ with her husband, three children, and an imaginary pony named Penny. You can learn more about her and her books on her website sudipta.com.
Tara Tomczyk
NOTE: SPEED DATE EDITOR
Tara Tomczyk is editor in chief at Blydyn Square Books, headquartered in Lansdale, PA and Kenilworth, NJ. She has been a professional editor for over 21 years. She began her career at Enslow Publishers in New Jersey, where she specialized in editing nonfiction books for the young adult market, working primarily as a history, social studies, and biography editor. She then moved to McGraw-Hill, where she developed textbooks and other educational materials. She has also worked for Chelsea House Publishers/Facts on File, where she served as the executive editor in charge of science titles. In 2005, she started her own editorial services company. She eventually narrowed her focus to book publishing and helped launch Blydyn Square Books in 2015. Blydyn Square Books specializes in literary fiction, but will consider any title that fits its company motto: Books That Make You Think. Tara’s favorite part of her job is discovering talented new writers—especially people who have never been published before—and working with them over the years to develop their writing. She will consider anything other than poetry and children’s books, with a main focus on literary and contemporary fiction.
Tawni Waters
Tawni Waters’s debut novel, Beauty of the Broken, won multiple awards, including the prestigious International Literacy Association Award for Young Adult Literature. It is being adapted for the screen by Jeff Arch, the screenwriter best known for writing Sleepless in Seattle. Her new novel, The Long Ride Home, launched in September to glowing reviews. She is also the author of two books of poetry, Siren Song and So Speak the Stars (forthcoming). Her work has been published in myriad anthologies, journals, and magazines. She holds an MFA from the University of New Orleans and teaches at various universities and writers retreats throughout the U.S., Europe, and Mexico.
Tim Fitts
NOTE: SPEED DATE EDITOR
Tim Fitts has served at the editorial staff of The Painted Bride Quarterly since 2013 and is a frequent guest on PBQ’s “Slushpile” podcast. Tim lives and works in Philadelphia. He is the author of two short story collections, Hypothermia, and Go Home and Cry for Yourselves. He teaches Creative Writing at the Curtis Institute of Music and Penn State Brandywine. His short stories have been published by journals such as The Gettysburg Review, Granta, CutBank, among many others.
Vernita Hall
Vernita Hall won the Marsh Hawk Press Robert Creeley Prize for her first full-length poetry volume Where William Walked (judge Meena Alexander). The Hitchhiking Robot Learns About Philadelphians won the Moonstone Chapbook Contest (judge Afaa Michael Weaver). She placed second in American Literary Review‘s Creative Nonfiction Contest, and second runner-up for the Los Angeles Review Nonfiction Award. Poetry and essays appear in numerous journals, including Atlanta Review, Philadelphia Stories, Referential, Mezzo Cammin, Canary, African American Review, and anthologies Forgotten Women (Grayson Books) and Not Our President (Third World Press). An MFA in Creative Writing from Rosemont College, she serves on the poetry review board of Philadelphia Stories.