Here’s the list of agents and presenters for the conference.
Amy Bishop-Wycisk joined Trellis Literary Management in 2023 after eight years with Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. She's cultivating a wide-ranging list in upmarket and book club fiction, light sci-fi and fantasy, speculative fiction, expert-driven narrative nonfiction, cultural criticism, history, and select YA, with a special interest in underrepresented voices, especially from the AAPI community. Her list includes titles such as A Crane Among Wolves by NYT bestselling author June Hur, the Daughter of Sparta series by Claire M. Andrews, and GAME FACE by award-winning author, Shari Green.
Emelie joined Susan Schulman Literary Agency as an associate agent in 2021 after fourteen years working as an independent bookseller. She lives in Montana with her husband, two huskies, and her books. When she isn’t reading manuscripts, she is most likely knitting, gardening, playing DnD, and/or camping in the mountains without any cell phone service.
Ruqayyah Daud is an editor at Little Brown Books for Young Readers and runs the fantasy book club at her local indie. Her projects include Zoulfa Katouh’s award winning As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow, and the Immortal Dark trilogy by Tigers Girma. When she isn’t obsessing over books you can find her binging a K-drama or listening to BTS.
Naomi Davis is a literary agent at BookEnds Literary Agency. Naomi seeks dynamic, character-driven adult and young adult titles in fantasy, sci-fi, and romance. LGBTQ+ elements and diversity in all fiction are a particular plus. Naomi is particularly passionate about finding new fantasy and sci-fi settings with unique magical structures that surprise the reader and change the rules readers associate with those worlds.
Before joining DeFiore in 2016, Reiko Davis was at Miriam Altshuler Literary Agency for four years. She grew up in Kansas City, received her BA in Comparative Literature and Art History from Brown University, and is a graduate of the Columbia Publishing Course.
Reiko's interests are varied, but on the children’s side, Reiko is actively looking for middle grade projects that aren't afraid to tackle big questions or important emotional truths, and do so through remarkable storytelling, humor, and heart. Right now she's especially on the lookout for middle grade non-fiction in the areas of mental health, science, political activism, environmentalism, and narrative history. She has a real soft spot for middle grade novels that empower kids to make a difference in their communities.
Her titles include Running Wild by Lucy Jane Bledsoe, The Wild World Handbook by Andrea Debbink and the White House Clubhouse series by Sean O'Brien.
Samantha Fabien is a literary agent at Root Literary Agency. After attending the Columbia Publishing Course in 2016, she went on to intern and work part-time at three agencies: Ayesha Pande Literary, Writers House, and Chalberg & Sussman. From there, Samantha fostered her love for sharing diverse, lasting, and inclusive stories with the world. Samantha also works with events and organizations like DVcon and The New York Writing Room among others.
Emily Forney is a literary agent at BookEnds Literary, specializing in children's literature, adult fantasy, and contemporary romance. She was named a 2022 Publisher's Weekly Star Watch honoree and was previously a Publishing Fellow with the LA Review of Books. She currently directs the BookEnds Publishing Fellowship, which mentors aspiring publishing professionals from marginalized communities and provides them with hands on education, resources, and workshops for roles throughout the industry. As a writer and former editor, she actively writes about identity, Blackness, and pop culture.
Maureen Johnson is the #1 New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than a dozen young adult novels, including Death at Morning House (August 2024), the Truly Devious series, the Shades of London series, Suite Scarlett, and 13 Little Blue Envelopes. Her collaborative books include Ghosts of the Shadow Market (with Cassandra Clare), as well as Let It Snow (with John Green and Lauren Myracle), which was also a hit feature film on Netflix. Her books have sold more than three million copies worldwide and have been published in more than thirty countries. She grew up in Philadelphia, graduated from the University of Delaware and has an MFA in Writing from Columbia University. Maureen lives in New York City with her husband and her dog.
George Jreije is the Lebanese-American author of the Shad Hadid children's fantasy series as well as the upcoming graphic novel, Tarik’s Bazaar Adventure, both with HarperCollins. He has also written short stories published in collaboration with UNICEF. When not wrangling words, George enjoys scouring the world for tasty food, messing with new yoga poses, and meeting other readers and writers.
Fred Koehler is an artist, novelist, and screenwriter whose real-life misadventures include sunken boats, shark encounters, and narrow escapes from hurricanes. His published works include the illustrated novel GARBAGE ISLAND, ONE DAY, THE END, and FLASHLIGHT NIGHT, among others. He currently has an animated series, a graphic novel, and many more stories in the works. Fred lives in Florida with his wife, kids, and a rescue dog named Cheerio Mutt-Face McChubbybutt. Visit www.ilikefred.com.
Tricia Lawrence is an agent at Erin Murphy Literary Agency. She represents picture books/chapter books that look at the world in a unique and unusual way, with characters that are alive both on and off the page, and middle grade and young adult fiction and nonfiction that offers strong worldbuilding, wounded narrators, and stories that grab a reader and won't let go.
Alexandra Levick (she/her) is currently a senior literary agent at Writers House, LLC. developing her picture book, middle grade, young adult, and adult lists. Previously, she worked with the agency at large as the Media Rights Manager for film and tv, helping to match clients to coagents, negotiating film deals, and taking meetings with producers, studios, and co-agencies. Prior to that, she worked with Writers House Senior Vice President, Merrilee Heifetz, Senior Agent Rebecca Sherman, covered for Senior Agent Stephen Barr's paternity leave, and covered for Senior Agent Brianne Johnson’s family leave. She has worked as a bookseller in both the adult and children’s markets, as well as on the house side of the publishing business in publicity. She holds a Masters of Science in Publishing: Digital and Print Media, with a specialization in Media Content Development from New York University and a Bachelor of the Arts in English, with a concentration in Creative Writing from the University of Rochester.
Caron Levis (MFA; LMSW) is the author of several picture books including the award-winning Feeling-Friends collection with Charles Santoso: Mighty Muddy Us, Feathers Together, This Way, Charlie and Ida, Always which the New York Times Book Review calls, "an example of children's books at their best." Other titles include Stop That Yawn! illustrated by LeUyen Pham; Mama’s Work Shoes illustrated by Vanessa Brantley Newton. Caron is the Coordinator and a Professor for The New School's Writing for Children/YA MFA program. With over 20 years as a Creative SEL/Literacy skills educator Caron uses a drama and writing techniques to create a variety of interactive school visits, professional developments and writing workshops. Caron was born, raised, and currently lives in New York City. Writing short things takes her a long time.
James McGowan is a literary agent and author of the picture book Good Night, Oppy! He began at BookEnds as an intern and has worked in all departments at the agency, now a full-time literary agent. He represents illustrated projects for young readers (board books, picture books, chapter books, and middle grade) as well as adult nonfiction and upmarket, mystery and suspense novels.
Margaret Meacham has published many books for children, including the middle grade novels Oyster Moon, The Secret of Heron Creek (both Tidewater), A Mid-Semester Night's Dream (Scholastic), Quiet! You're Invisible, A Fairy's Guide to Understanding Humans (both Holiday House), and The Ghosts of Laurelford (Sunbury). She is also the author of the adult mystery novel The Survival of Sarah Landing (Sunbury). Her articles and short stories have appeared in Library Journal, Country Magazine, Successful Student Magazine, Maryland Magazine, Highlights for Children, Baltimore Magazine, and the Baltimore Sun. She has taught at Goucher College and Towson University. She holds a BA from Trinity College and an MLIS from the University of Maryland.
Janna Morishima is a literary agent specializing in graphic novels and visual storytelling. She is also the founder of Kids Comics Unite, an online community and learning platform for graphic novel creators. Janna started her career at Scholastic, where she was a co-founder of the Graphix imprint and worked with comics creators like Raina Telgemeier, Jeff Smith, and Kazu Kubuishi. Later, she was the director of the Kids Group for Diamond Book Distributors, and launched a city-wide literacy initiative for the NYC Department of Education. She currently represents a range of creators, including Misako Rocks, Shauna Grant, Andi Watson, Claudia Rueda, Debbie Fong, and Rivkah LaFille, among others.
Sera Rivers is a Literary Agent at Speilburg Literary, an AALA member, and a writer. She holds an MFA in writing for children from Simmons University. Prior to agenting, Sera worked as an editor in educational publishing for seven years. Sera lives in Western Massachusetts with her partner and their puppy Jett. When she’s not reading or writing, she can be found running all over New England training for her next marathon.
Quressa Robinson joined Folio Literary Management in 2022 after working at previous agencies, including the Nelson Literary Agency, and as an editor for five years. She is originally from San Francisco, but has been living in New York City for over a decade. As a New York based agent, she is eager to build her MG, YA, and Adult lists. When not curled on her couch reading, she plays video games, enjoys too much, TV–-mostly Sailor Moon and Avatar: The Last Airbender (Fire Nation)--eats delicious things, drinks champagne, and adds another “dramatic” color to her lipstick collection. Quressa is also a member of the 2017-2019 WNDB Walter Grant Committee and holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University. In 2020, she was named a Publisher's Weekly Star Watch finalist. In 2021 she was named an influential gatekeeper in Book and Film Globe’s inaugural Publishing Power 30 list alongside phenoms like Reece Witherspoon, Celeste Ng, and Lisa Lucas.
Lev Rosen writes books for people of all ages, including the Evander Mills series, which began with the Macavity Award winning Lavender House (Anthony finalist, Lambda finalist, Best Book of the Year from Buzzfeed, Library Journal, Amazon, Bookpage, and others) and continued with The Bell in the Fog, (Publisher’s Weekly Editor’s Choice, Best Book of the year from Amazon, CrimeReads and Autostraddle). His most recent YA novels are Emmett (Best Book of the year from Kirkus and Amazon), Lion’s Legacy (Best Book of the year from Booklist and the New York Public Library) and Camp (Best Book of the year from Forbes, Elle, and The Today Show and others). The third Evander Mills mystery, Rough Pages, will be out in fall 2024. He lives in NYC with his husband and a very small cat.
John Rudolph joined DG&B in 2010 after twelve years as an acquiring children’s book editor. He is keenly interested in middle-grade and young adult fiction and would love to find the next great picture book author or author/illustrator. He is also interested in nonfiction at all levels. His clients include Meg Auchenbach, Carlos Aponte, Tadgh Bentley, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, Michael G. Long, Carme Lemniscates, Margie Palatini, Brandon Todd and Kim Zachman.
Michaela Whatnall is an agent with Dystel, Goderich & Bourret, where they have worked out of the West Coast office since 2019. They have a degree in English and linguistics from Emory University, completed the Columbia Publishing Course, and in 2023 they were selected as a Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree. Michaela represents middle grade and young adult fiction across genres; upmarket adult fiction and grounded fantasy; and select picture books, graphic novels, and narrative nonfiction.
