AGENTS, EDITORS, & PANELISTS
* = will participate in speed date.
*Courtney K. Bambrick is the poetry editor at Philadelphia Stories. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in such journals as Apiary, Certain Circuits, Dirty Napkin, Philadelphia Poets, and the Schuylkill Valley Journal. Courtney currently teaches writing and literature at Holy Family University, Philadelphia University, and Gwynedd-Mercy College. She recently coordinated the third annual Children’s Arts Program for kids at Old Academy Players in her neighborhood. She lives with poet Peter Baroth in East Falls. For speed date: poetry.
*Richard D. Bank, Esq. is the author of six books including The Everything Guide to Writing Nonfiction (Adams Media, 2010) and provides services as a writers’ coach for serious writers. He is a past president and current board member of the Philadelphia Writers’ Conference and has published over 100 articles, essays, short stories and book reviews in various journals and periodicals. Richard has taught writing courses at the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University and other venues. He currently is on faculty at Rosemont College in the Graduate Publishing and MFA programs where he teaches courses including creative nonfiction and publishing law. For speed date: nonfiction
*Janet Benton is a highly experienced editor and teacher of
writing who has worked closely with countless writers to improve their
manuscripts and their craft. Her writing has appeared in Kiwi, Working Woman, Women’s Health for Dummies, and many other publications, and her editing clients have published
hundreds of books. She serves as a mentor and teacher to writers
throughout the region through The Word Studio in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. For speed date: nonfiction, fiction
*Anne Bohner founded Pen & Ink, a boutique literary agency. She has ten years of experience as an editor with major trade publishers. Prior to founding Pen & Ink, Anne Bohner was a senior editor with New American Library and also worked at Bantam Dell for several years. While at NAL, Anne spearheaded the Young Adult line NAL Jam where she worked on many promising books including a current New York Times bestselling series. Anne has also worked with bestselling and award winning authors of both adult fiction and nonfiction and has an extensive background in the romance genre. * For speed date: upmarket but commercial women’s fiction, older YA, memoirs, and narrative nonfiction.
*Sheree Bykofsky, AAR, represents over 100 book authors in all
areas of adult non-fiction as well as literary and commercial fiction.
Her non-fiction specialties include popular reference, business, health,
psychology, poker, spirituality, self-help, humor, cookbooks, pop
culture, biography, women’s issues, decorating & crafts, music, and
much more. Among Sheree’s non-fiction clients are Taro Gold, Jane
Eldershaw, Bill Walsh, Margo Perin, Albert Ellis, John Carpenter (first
millionaire on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"), Bill Baker (President
of Channel 13, PBS in NYC), Supermodel Roshumba, and Richard Roeper (of
Ebert and Roeper). In the area of fiction, Sheree’s clients include
Donna Anders and Leslie Rule. Sheree is an Adjunct Assistant Professor
of Publishing at New York University and teaches at SEAK’s conferences for doctors and lawyers.
*Rosemary Cappello edits and publishes Philadelphia Poets, which she founded in 1980, and in conjunction with that publication,
organizes and presents poetry readings throughout each year and bestows
two annual awards. Her poetry has appeared in a number of publications, including Anthology of Women Writing, Voices in Italian Americana, Poet Lore, Avanti Popolo, and Iconoclast. Her chapbooks include In the Gazebo, The Sid Poems, and San Paride. She is a published prose writer as well, mainly of
essays and film reviews. For speed date: poetry.
Alison DeLuca is the author of several steampunk and urban fantasy books. She was born in Arizona and has also lived in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Mexico, Ireland, and Spain. Currently she wrestles words and laundry in New Jersey.
*Adriana Dominguez has nearly 15 years of experience in publishing, most recently as Executive Editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books, where she managed the children’s division of the Latino imprint, Rayo. Prior to that, she was Children’s Reviews Editor at Criticas magazine, published by Library Journal. Adriana joined Full Circle in 2009. Please note Adriana is not accepting science fiction, fantasy, dystopian or paranormal submissions. For speed date: She is interested in children’s picture books, middle grade novels, and (literary) young adult novels. On the adult side, she is looking for
literary, women’s, and historical fiction, and in the area of
non-fiction, for multicultural, pop culture, how-to, and titles geared
toward women of all ages. She is NOT interested in romance, thrillers, or mysteries.
*Anne Dubuisson is
a former New York literary agent with over 20 years of experience as an
editor, writing coach and publishing and creative consultant. Her
clients have included bestselling fiction and nonfiction writers. Her
areas of expertise include book proposal development and story building
for business professionals. For speed date: memoir and
nonfiction.
*Anna Evans’ is an editor for the Schuylkill Valley Journal. Her poems have appeared in the Harvard Review, the Atlanta Review, American Arts Quarterly, Rattle and 32 Poems.
She has been nominated seven times for a Pushcart Prize and was a
finalist for both the 2005 and 2007 Howard Nemerov sonnet award, and for
the 2007 Willis Barnstone Translation Award. She gained her MFA from
Bennington College, and is the Editor of the Raintown Review. Her chapbooks Swimming and Selected Sonnets are available from Maverick Duck Press. For speed date: poetry
Kathye Fetsko Petrie is a freelance writer and the author of the children’s picture book, Flying Jack. Her non-fiction publication credits include The Philadelphia Inquirer, Main Line Today, The Writer, The Sun, pif magazine and Mused: The BellaOnline Literary Review.
She has published interviews with notable authors including Mary Gordon
and William Styron. Locally, Petrie is perhaps best known as the
editor/publisher and founder (2002) of Local LIT,
the online publication of literary events and resources taking place in
the Philadelphia area. She is at present working on a non-fiction book
about women writers writing while being mothers. For more information
about Kathye Fetsko Petrie including links to some of her published
writing go to www.kathyefetskopetrie.com.
*Hattie Fletcher is the managing editor of Creative Nonfiction. She has been a coordinating editor for the Best Creative Nonfiction series, published by W.W. Norton, and is co-editor, with Lee Gutkind, of Keep It Real: Everything You Need to Know About Researching and Writing Creative Nonfiction.
*Eve Gleichman is a youth editor for APIARY. Her fiction has appeared in Manhattan Magazine and plain china and has been recognized by Glimmer Train and Stonybrook Southampton, where she was recipient of the 2011 $1000 fiction prize. She studied short fiction at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges, where she also coordinated a writing and tutoring program for inner-city middle schoolers. In 2010, Eve enjoyed editorial and fiction internships at Esquire Magazine. For speed date: fiction.
Best-selling author of novels and short stories of the fantastic: dark thrillers, historical fantasy and science fiction, Gregory Frost’s latest work is the YA-crossover Shadowbridge series (Del Rey/Random House), voted one of the best fantasy novels of the year by the ALA. His novella, "Vulpes," rounds out the thriller anthology V-Wars, edited by Jonathan Maberry (IDW), and his short story "The Dingus" opens Supernatural Noir, edited by Ellen Datlow (Dark Horse Books). He is also a contributor to The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature,
edited by Edward James & Farah Mendlesohn (Cambridge University
Press). He is the fiction workshop director at Swarthmore College and
teaches fiction writing for adults through Main Line School Night.
Lise Funderburg’s latest book, Pig Candy: Taking My Father South, Taking My Father Home, is a contemplation of life, death, and barbecue. Pig Candy
was chosen by Drexel University this year for its Freshman Writing
Program Summer Read. Lise’s articles, essays, and reviews have been
published in The New York Times, TIME, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Nation, MORE, Chattahoochee Review, the Oprah Magazine, and Prevention. She teaches creative nonfiction at The University of Pennsylvania and the Paris American Academy.
* Katie Grimm joined Don Congdon Associates in 2007. In addition to maintaining her own client list, she acts as business manager. For speed date: She focuses on vivid literary fiction, transportive historical fiction, up-market women’s fiction, cohesive short story collections, and lurid mysteries & thrillers with exotic or historical settings. In young adult, she is actively seeking both contemporary and fantastical high-concepts with a touch of romance. In middle grade, she looks for heart and humor with a strange or creepy twist. Most importantly, she is hooked by fiction with emotional resonance and longevity, and in her opinion, this requires an authentic voice, relatable characters, and a twisting plot that keeps her intrigued. For non-fiction, she is looking for narrative non-fiction about history, popular science, off-beat topics, and counter-culture. She is a member of SCBWI and serves on the AAR Program Committee.
*Joan Hanna works as Assistant Managing Editor for River Teeth, A Journal of Nonfiction Narrative, Assistant Editor, Nonfiction/Poetry for r.kv.r.y. Quarterly Literary Journal, and Managing Editor for Poets¹ Quarterly. She has published nonfiction, poetry, fiction and book reviews in various online and print journals. Joan is an Adjunct Professor, Creative Writing at Rowan University and her chapbook, Threads, is will be available for pre-order from Finishing Line Press in November 2012. Joan holds an MFA from Ashland University in Ohio. She was born and raised in Philadelphia and now lives in New Jersey with her husband Craig and rescued Beagle Odessa. * For speed date: nonfiction, poetry
*Alison Hicks is the founder of the Greater Philadelphia Wordshop Studio. She also leads
community-based writing workshops under the name , and is editor of Prompted (PS Books, 2010), an anthology of work from the first 13 years of the Wordshop Studio.
Her first full-length collection of poems, Kiss is out from PS Books. Her other books include a chapbook, Falling Dreams (Finishing Line, 2006), and a novella, Love: A Story of Images
(AWA Press, 2004). She has twice received fellowships from the
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts; her work has appeared in Eclipse, Main
Street Rag, Gulf Stream, the GW Review, Pearl and Softblow, and is
forthcoming in Gargoyle, Grey Sparrow and The Hollins Critic. * For speed date: fiction, nonfiction, poetry
Beth Kephart is the award-winning author of fourteen books, including, most recently the southern Spain-infused novel Small Damages (Philomel), which received three starred reviews and was featured in the New York Times, LA Times, BookPage, Family Circle,
and elsewhere. In March 2013, New City Community Press/Temple
University Press will release Kephart’s 1871 Philadelphia young adult
novel, Dr. Radway’s Sarsaparilla Resolvent, and in August 2013, Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir will be released by Gotham. In the winter of 2014, We Could Be Heroes, Just for One Day: A Berlin Novel,
will be released by Philomel. Kephart teaches creative nonfiction at
the University of Pennsylvania and writes reviews and essays for The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Shelf Awareness, and Publishing Perspectives. She is the strategic writer at Fusion Communications and her literary blog, http://beth-kephart.blogspot.com/, was twice named a best author blog by the BBAW. Click here to read our interview with Beth.
* Peter Krok is the editor of the Schuylkill Valley Journal
and serves as the humanities/poetry director of the Manayunk Art Center
where he has coordinated a literary series since 1990. Because of his
identification with row house and red brick Philadelphia, he is often
referred to as “the red brick poet.” His poems have appeared in the Yearbook of American Poetry, America, Mid-America Poetry Review, Midwest Quarterly, Poet Lore, Potomac Review, Blue Unicorn and numerous other print and online journals. In 2005, his poem “10 PM At a Philadelphia Recreation Center” was included in Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania (published by Penn State University). His book, Looking For An Eye, was published by Foothills Press in 2008. For speed date: poetry
*Aimee LaBrie is a fiction editor Philadelphia Stories and teaches a fiction workshop for the magazine. She received her MFA in fiction Penn State in 2003. Her collection of short stories, Wonderful Girl,
won the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Short Fiction in 2007. Other
stories of hers have been published in Minnesota Review, Pleiades,
Quarter After Eight and numerous other literary journals. She is also a director of marketing and communications at the University of Pennsylvania. You can read her blog at www.butcallmebetsy.blogspot.com. Most recently, she was awarded first prize in Zoetrope’s national short fiction contest. For speed date: fiction.
Don Lafferty’s short fiction has appeared in NEEDLE MAGAZINE, CRIME FACTORY MAGAZINE, SHOTGUN HONEY and a number of other markets and anthologies. He’s written corporate
communication, marketing and advertising copy, and feature magazine
articles. Don is a regular contributor to the global conversation about
marketing through the social media channel, and blogs at www.donaldlafferty.com.
Don is a regular speaker, teacher and the Chief Marketing Officer of
the digital marketing agency, Mingl Social. He’s a member of the Philly
Liars Club, the social media director of the Wild River Review, and serves on the board of directors of the Philadelphia Writers’ Conference. Cick here to read our interview with Don.
*Marie Lamba is an Associate Agent at the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency. She is the author of the young adult novels What I Meant… (Random House), Over My Head and Drawn. Her work appears in the short story anthology Liar Liar (Mendacity Press), the anthology Call Me Okaasan: Adventures in Multicultural Mothering (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing), and her articles appear in more than 100 publications including national magazines such as Writer’s Digest, Garden Design and RWR. 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 Romance Writers of America, and The Liars Club. For speed date: As an agent, Marie is currently looking for young adult and middle grade fiction, along with general and women’s fiction and some memoir. Books that are moving and/or hilarious are especially welcome. She is NOT interested in picture books, science fiction or high fantasy (though she is open to paranormal elements), category romance (though romantic elements are welcomed), non-fiction, or in books that feature graphic violence. For submissions guidelines, click HERE. Click HERE to read our interview with Marie.
* Debra Leigh Scott is the Founding Director of Hidden
River Arts, which celebrates and supports creative and performing
artists, and is now Founding Editor-in-Chief of Hidden River Publishing,
a brand new independent small press here in Philadelphia. She is a writer, playwright, dramaturg, arts administrator and educator. Her collection, Other Likely Stories, was published by Sowilo Press. Her novel, PIETY STREET, is forthcoming with New Door Books. S Debra is
working on a book/documentary project called ‘Junct: The Trashing of
Higher Ed. in America and blogs as The Homeless Adjunct. For speed date: fiction, nonfiction
* Nathan Alling Long’ is a member of the fiction board for Philadelphia Stories. His work appears in over fifty journals and anthologies, including Tin House, Glimmer Train, Story Quarterly, The Sun, Crab Orchard Review, Salt Hill, and Indiana Review. He has received a Truman Capote Fellowship, a Mellon Foundation Fellowship, and a Pushcart nomination and is a seven-time finalist for the Glimmer Train Very Short Story Award. He lives in Philadelphia and teaches at Richard Stockton College of NJ. For speed date: fiction
Jon McGoran is the author of Drift, an ecological thriller coming out Summer 2013 from Tor/Forge. Writing as D. H. Dublin, he is the author of the forensic crime thrillers Freezer Burn, Blood Poison, and Body Trace. His short fiction, nonfiction and satire have appeared in a variety of publications and anthologies. He is a founding member of the Liars Club. As Communications Director at Weavers Way Co-op, he is editor of the monthly newspaper, The Shuttle.
*Fran Metzman is the fiction editor for Schuylkill Valley
Journal and The Wild River Review. She was nominated for the Dzanc Books Award for an online short story published in Wilderness House Literary Review.
In addition, she has published many short stories and she appears on
many writer panels. Her most recently published short story, REDEMPTION,
was in WildernessHouseLiteraryReview.
She has a Masters degree from University of Pennsylvania and is
currently teaching memoir/creative writing class at Temple University’s
Adult Education School. Her Wild River blog is “The Age of Reasonable Doubt,” which deals with mature dating (sometimes tongue in cheek), women’s issues and how to have better relationship for all ages. February 2012, she published a short story collection entitled: THE HUNGRY HEART STORIES, Wilderness House Press. For speed date: nonfiction, fiction
*Tamara Oakman is cofounder and executive editor of APIARY magazine. Her work has appeared in many online and in print literary magazines. She has awards in poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and drama, and performs her work in Philadelphia and the tri-state areas. She has a BA in English and Writing Certificate from Temple University, and a MA in English from Arcadia University. She is currently studying for her MA in Humanities at AU.
For speed date: any genre.
Suzanne Palmieri is the author of The Witch of Little Italy (Saint Martin’s Press March 26, 2013) and co-author of I’ll be Seeing You, (Mira Harlequin June, 2013 written under Suzanne Hayes). She is a History teacher in the New Haven public school system and an instructor of Sociology at area universities. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and three daughters.
Miral Sattar is founder and CEO of BiblioCrunch, a platform that connects authors with quality, vetted book publishing professionals. She has worked in the media industry for 11 years, most recently at TIME where she launched several digital initiatives including an iPad and mobile site, mobile apps, a video and podcast channel, blogs, and SEO. Her writing has been featured in TIME, CNN, NY Daily News, among other media publications. She has a MS in Publishing (Digital + Print Media) from NYU and a BS from Columbia University in Electrical Engineering and Computer
Science. You can follow Miral on Twitter at @BiblioCrunch.
Curtis Smith’s stories and essays have appeared in over eighty literary reviews and have been cited by The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Mystery Stories, and The Best American Spiritual Writing. He is the author of the story collections The Species Crown and Bad Monkey; the novels Sound and Noise and Truth or Something Like It; and the essay collection Witness. His next book will be Beasts and Men, a story collection from Press 53 due out this coming March. His next novel will be put out by Aqueous Books in 2015.
*Tara S. Smith is the Fiction Editor of Rathalla Review and serves on the editorial board of Philadelphia Stories, Jr. She has worked as a freelance editor for various publishers in the US, the UK, and Australia for 20 years. She is a first-year MFA student at Rosemont. Speed date: Fiction, Non-fiction
*Mitchell Sommers is the Fiction Editor and a member of the Board of Directors of Philadelphia Stories. He has been published, in addition to Philadelphia Stories, in PHASE, The Big Toe Review, iPinion, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the F&M Alumni Arts Review. He is a member of the Lancaster Dramatists’ Platform, a playwriting group. He is an attorney in Lancaster and Ephrata, PA, concentrating in the field of bankruptcy and debtor/creditor law.. He is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College, received his law degree from Dickinson School of Law at Penn State, and his MFA from the University of New Orleans.
*Catherine Stine is a middle-grade and YA author who has also worked as a manuscript editor and book doctor. Books include A Girl’s Best Friend, in the new multimedia series Innerstar University from American Girl and Refugees, a "Best Book for Teens" that appears on the United Nations official study guide. It earned a featured review and "Story Behind the Story" interview in Booklist. She also writes fiction for Scholastic and teaches creative writing and literature at the School of Visual Arts. Learn more at catherinestine.blogspot.com and catherinestine.com For speed date: Children’s/YA. Click here to read our interview with Catherine.
Dennis Tafoya lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and is the author of two critically acclaimed novels, Dope Thief and The Wolves of Fairmount Park, as well as numerous short stories appearing in collections such as Philadelphia Noir from Akashic Books. He has been nominated for two Spinetingler awards and his novels have been optioned for film.
Karen Pokras Toz is a writer, wife and mom. In June 2011, Karen published her first middle grade children’s novel for 7-12 year olds called Nate Rocks the World, which won First Place for Children’s Chapter Books and the Grand Prize Overall in the 2012 Purple Dragonfly Book Awards, as well as placing first for a Global E-Book Award for Pre-Teen Literature. In 2012, Karen published the second in the Nate Rocks series, Nate Rocks the Boat, followed by middle grade novel, Millicent Marie Is Not My Name. Karen is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI).
* Nancy Viau is the author of SAMANTHA HANSEN HAS ROCKS IN HER HEAD (Middle-Grade Novel/Amulet Books, 2008), LOOK WHAT I CAN DO! (Picture Book/Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2013), and STORM SONG (Picture Book/Amazon Children’s Publishing/formerly Marshall Cavendish, 2013). Her stories, poems, and activities appear in Highlights, Highlights High Five, Ladybug, Babybug, and many other magazines. She is a member of The Authors Guild, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and The KidLit Authors Club—a regional marketing group she started that consists of published authors who bring interactive book parties to bookstores, libraries, festivals, and conferences. For speed date: Children’s/YA.
*Marshall Warfield serves as a senior editor for the Painted Bride Quarterly.
He teaches courses in composition and creative writing at Drexel
University, where he also serves as a faculty reader and creative
writing workshop facilitator for the Drexel Writing Center. His own
poetry involves other artists; recent projects include collaborating on a
writing-focused interactive art exhibit entitled Resonance: speaking
for the arts and writing for the film Pines: a cinematic exploration of
the New Jersey Pine Barrens. His work has most recently been published
in Press 1. For speed date: poetry, memoir, essay.
Jerry Waxler M.S. teaches nonfiction writing at Northampton Community College, and is the author of the blog, Memory Writers Network, http://www.memorywritersnetwork.com/blog, which contains hundreds of essays, book reviews, stories, and writing prompts about reading and writing memoirs. Mr. Waxler is the author of two self-help books, is a director of the Philadelphia Writers Conference, and has taught and spoken about memoir writing at many regional and online writing groups. He has a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology.
*Sean Webb is an editor with Schuylkill Valley Journal. He received an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers Workshop and has been recipient of numerous honors and awards for his work. His poems have appeared in many publications, including The North American Review, Prairie Schooner, The Seattle Review and Schuylkill Valley Journal. In 2005 he served as Poet Laureate of Montgomery County. For speed date: poetry
*Laura E. White is the managing editor of Rathalla Review, the Rosemont College MFA program literary magazine. She is a first year MFA student in fiction and is working on her first novel. She recently attended the Southampton Writers Conference and the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. She has a BA in English from Mount Saint Mary’s University and a Master of Social Service from Bryn Mawr College. For speed date: fiction
Anne Converse Willkomm obtained her M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Rosemont College, where she is currently the Interim Director of the Graduate Publishing Programs. In addition to directing the M.A. in Publishing degree and the Graduate Certificate in ePublishing, she also teaches writing in the undergraduate college. Her work has been published in Fiction 365, The Midwest Coast Review, The Medulla Review, Post Card Shorts, Sibyl Magazine, Suburban News, and on FlashFiction.net. Two of her longer works of fiction were twice named semi-finalist in the William Faulkner Creative Writing Competition.
NORA ZELEVANSKY’s writing has appeared in ELLE, SELF, InStyle, Town & Country, Style.com, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Salon.com, Vanity Fair online and Travel + Leisure, among others. A born-and-bred Manhattanite, she now lives with her husband in Brooklyn, New York. Semi-Charmed Life is her first novel.