Agents Attending Washington Writers Conference 2017

Whether you have a proposal or a manuscript ready, or are close enough to want to become familiar with the process, the Washington Writers Conference gives you the chance to sit with three agents for five minutes each.

When you register, indicate your top four choices and what kind of book you'll be pitching. We will schedule three pitches per author, but ask you to provide four choices to help us accommodate any conflicts or changes that may occur. Please also be aware that the agents scheduled may change between now and the day of the conference. You will receive your agent assignments and times when you arrive on Saturday.

Malaga Baldi
​Baldi Literary Agency
Malaga Baldi loves to read books that take her to a place she has never been. She loves to read books she wishes she could write. She loves finding out about people's lives and loves. She loves to read books about what makes people tick: motivation, greed, upward mobility, revenge, etc. She loves to read books that help her find out more about herself. She is currently seeking fiction, nonfiction, biography, memoir, narrative nonfiction, and literary fiction.

Sarah Bedingfield
​Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency​
Prior to joining LGR in 2016, Sarah began her publishing career in trade fiction editorial at Crown and Hogarth. There, she worked with a range of bestselling and award-winning novels, including Han Kang’s Human Acts and Man Booker International Prize-winning debut, The Vegetarian, as well as the New York Times bestselling novel The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. Sarah loves most types of literary and upmarket commercial fiction, especially novels that show powerful imagination, compulsive plotting, and unique voices. Epic family dramas, cross-genre narratives with notes of magical realism, darkly Gothic stories that may lead to nightmares, and twisty psychological suspense are among her favorite things to read. A southerner at heart, she can’t help but love books set in the South, but she’s a diehard for any world immersive enough to make her miss her stop on the train, cry in public, or leave her desperately unable to sleep. Sarah hails from North Carolina, where she graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a double major in psychology and English. She spent her first three years in New York teaching high school English in the Bronx and earning an M.S. in education from Hunter College. While she misses the warm weather and oversized oak trees of her first home, she wouldn’t trade the inspiring, beautiful energy of the city and of publishing for just about anything (short of the beach). When she isn’t reading, Sarah loves to hike and go camping, travel abroad, cook new recipes, and practice photography. Her favorite authors include Sarah Waters, Shirley Jackson, Matthew Thomas, Maria Semple, Emily St. John Mandel, Erin Morgenstern, and Victor Hugo. She is currently seeking fiction and literary fiction.

Laura Bradford
Bradford Literary Agency
Laura Bradford established the Bradford Literary Agency in 2001. She considers herself an editorial-focused agent and takes a hands-on approach to developing proposals and manuscripts with her authors for the most appropriate markets. The mission of Bradford Literary Agency is to form true partnerships with their clients and build long-term relationships that extend from writing the first draft through the length of the author’s career. Her recent sales include books placed with Penguin Random House, Grand Central, Harlequin, Kensington, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Sourcebooks, Disney-Hyperion, and many others. She continues to actively build her client list and is currently seeking work in the following genres: romance (historical, romantic suspense, paranormal, category, contemporary, erotic), women’s fiction, mystery, thrillers, middle grade and young adult, as well as some select nonfiction. She is a member of the Association of Authors’ Representatives (AAR) and Romance Writers of America, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), and she is an RWA-recognized agent.

Beth Campbell
​BookEnds Literary Agency
After an academic career filled with publishing internships, Beth joined BookEnds as a literary assistant in September 2012 and was promoted to assistant literary agent in 2015. She's diligently building her client list and is always excited to meet an author with an excellent story. She's also spent years as the company's rights coordinator and now works alongside Moe to continue selling foreign and audio rights. Beth's obsession with books began with a distinct fantasy/sci-fi flavor, and she's happily never kicked the addiction. She is primarily interested in signing clients within those genres, YA, romantic suspense, and mystery. She loves seeing diverse characters (sexuality, gender, race, you name it!) and strong friendships across all genres. Beth currently lives in New Jersey with her husband and their cat. Outside of reading, her personal hobbies include drawing, cooking, gaming, and spending far too much time on the Internet.         

Jennifer Chen Tran
​Fuse Literary
Jennifer is an associate agent at Fuse Literary acquiring both fiction and nonfiction. She is a lifelong reader, New York native, and experienced member of the publishing industry. Prior to joining Fuse Literary, Jennifer was principal and owner of Penumbra Literary LLC, and served as Of Counsel at the New Press. She has also interned at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth literary agency, was an editorial and publicity intern at Hunter House Publishers (since acquired by Turner Publishing), and an editorial intern at Terrain Magazine. Jennifer obtained her Juris Doctor from Northeastern School of Law in Boston, and a Bachelor of Arts in English literature from Washington University in St. Louis, with a minor in legal studies. With a legal background, Jennifer understands the importance of negotiation when securing and retaining author rights. She counsels each client on building or expanding her platform and improving on craft, and works collaboratively with her clients to obtain the best deal for each writer’s creative investment. She believes in building fulfilling and lifelong writing careers and is honored to work with her client-writers. She is currently looking for fiction, nonfiction, YA, narrative nonfiction, and literary fiction.      

Diana S. Finch
Diana Finch Literary Agency
Diana Finch opened her own agency in New York City’s Flatiron District in 2003, after more than 15 years with the Ellen Levine Literary Agency and a start in agenting at Sanford Greenburger Associates. She looks for strong storytelling in fiction — literary, YA, and the occasional genre novel — while most of her list is nonfiction: science, environment, progressive politics, memoir, health, and business. Many of her clients are journalists, foreign correspondents, and memoirists, and she’s proud that three clients were at the 2015 COP21 Climate Summit in Paris. She chairs the AAR’s International Committee and loves selling to foreign publishers. She began her publishing career as an editorial assistant, learning the inner workings of a publishing house at St. Martin’s Press. She has a BA in English from Harvard and an MA in American literature from Leeds University, UK. Diana loves sports — both watching and playing — and lives in the Bronx.

Mary Ellen Gavin
Gavin Literary Agency LLC
Mary Ellen's first career was in Chicago's high finance arena where she was one of the first females to move up to management. She ended her successful years in the business world as an independent contractor in Washington and is listed as one of the Women of the Century for Who's Who. She credits her ability to see a good story from her business acumen along with her MBA. Reading since she was a child, Mary Ellen recognized the words before she knew her ABCs. She writes, edits, teaches manuscript and screenwriting, and works as a script consultant. Mary Ellen is co-chair for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards worldwide contest. Training at the Loiacono Agency in 2015, she learned the joy of representing writers and opened the Gavin Agency in 2016. Mary Ellen only represents adult fiction, and while she welcomes all genres, she is always on the hunt for humor (make me laugh) or a true thriller (I scare easily!).      

Ellen Geiger
Frances Goldin Literary Agency, Inc.
Ellen has over two decades in publishing, film, and television, and is always looking for great stories and great writing about cutting-edge issues. The agency is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and she follows its strong tradition of representing edgy, progressive political, and multi- and sociocultural voices. Literary fiction about big themes and all kinds of nonfiction that question commonly held assumptions and norms are welcome. Politics, science, psychology, memoir, and biography are special interests. The agency counts among notable authors the novelists Barbara Kingsolver, Dorothy Allison, Alvaro Enrigue, and Stephanie Powell Watts. Nonfiction authors span the range from Pulitzer Prize winners Mike Wallace, essayist Eula Biss, David Cole, national legal director of the ACLU, biblical scholar James L. Kugel, Democracy Now co-host Juan Gonzalez, and technology commentator and professor Siva Vaidhyanathan. She also represents several important estates, including Margaret Wise Brown, author of Goodnight Moon, the poet Adrienne Rich and novelist Tillie Olsen. 

​Mark Gottlieb
​Trident Media Group
Mark Gottlieb attended Emerson College and was president of its Publishing Club, establishing the Wilde Press. After graduating with a degree in writing, literature & publishing, he began his career with Penguin’s VP. Mark’s first position at Publishers Marketplace’s number-one-ranked literary agency, Trident Media Group, was in foreign rights. Mark was EA to Trident’s chairman and ran the audio department. Mark is currently working with his own client list, helping to manage and grow author careers with the unique resources available to Trident. He has ranked #1 among Literary Agents on publishersmarketplace.com in Overall Deals and other categories. He is currently looking for fiction, nonfiction, mystery, biography, YA, sci-fi/fantasy, narrative nonfiction, and literary fiction.

​Hillary Jacobson
ICM Partners
​Hillary Jacobson is actively building a list consisting of commercial and literary fiction and YA, as well as narrative nonfiction and memoir. She is especially seeking high-concept YA, upmarket fiction, psychological thrillers and memoirs that read like fiction. Prior to working at ICM, she interned at Random House, Janklow & Nesbit, and Alloy Entertainment. She is a graduate of Brown University.

Gina Maccoby
Gina Maccoby Literary Agency
​Gina Maccoby is a New York literary agent representing authors of literary and upmarket fiction and narrative nonfiction for adults and children, including New York Times bestselling and award-winning titles. First and foremost, she is captured by an engaging, compelling voice; across all forms she is looking for strong storytelling and fresh perspectives. Areas of interest in nonfiction include history, biography, current events, and popular science. In fiction, she is looking for upmarket novels, mysteries, and thrillers, middle grade, and young adult. Gina served four terms on the Board of Directors of the Association of Authors' Representatives and is a member of both the Royalties and Contracts Committees. She is a longtime member of the Authors Guild and also a member of SCBWI. Prior to establishing her own agency in 1986, she was a literary agent at Russell & Volkening for six years, where she handled her own clients as well as first serial, foreign, and movie rights for the agency. Gina grew up mostly in Northern California and graduated with honors from Harvard College.

Dana Murphy
The Book Group
After studying film, television, and sociology at NYU, Dana joined the Book Group in 2012 to provides administrative and creative support to Brettne Bloom and Elisabeth Weed, working alongside them on all aspects of their clients’ projects. Dana began building her list independently in 2015, with an eye toward thoughtfully growing clients from the ground up. Working collaboratively from the early stages of a project continuously draws Dana to this job, and she hopes to cultivate lasting, compassionate relationships with her select list of authors. Dana’s literary interests are farflung, but she is always looking to be transported completely — through voice, setting, plotting, any authentic way. Dana is particularly interested in finding literary, commercial, and speculative fiction (both adult and YA) with a strong sense of place, diverse voices, and masterful plotting, as well as smart narrative nonfiction/essays about pop culture, social issues, feminism, diversity, film and television, music, and comedy.  

Sarah Phair
​Trident Media Group
Sarah Phair began her career in publishing at Trident Media Group four years ago after completing her M.A. in literature. She spent two years learning from and assisting two domestic agents before being promoted to audio agent. In that position, Sarah negotiated deals with audio publishers for Trident authors. Her next promotion was as a sales agent in Trident’s Foreign Rights Department. In this position, Sarah contacted editors at publishers around the globe to offer the works of Trident authors and negotiate deals on their behalf. In July 2016, Sarah began building her own client list. She is interested in upmarket and commercial women’s fiction, literary fiction, and narrative nonfiction. She is most attracted to stories that are emotionally complex, thoughtfully plotted, and explore different aspects of lesser-known experiences.

BJ Robbins
​BJ Robbins Literary Agency
BJ Robbins established her Los Angeles-based agency in 1992 after a multifaceted career in book publishing in NY, first in publicity at Simon & Schuster and later as marketing director and then senior editor at Harcourt. Her agency represents quality fiction, both literary and commercial, and general nonfiction, with a particular interest in memoir, biography, narrative history, pop culture, sports, travel/adventure, medicine, and health. Her clients include NY Times bestselling nonfiction writers J. Maarten Troost, James Donovan, Deanne Stillman, vocal coach Roger Love, Dr. Pamela Nagami, Carol Ann Harris, nationally syndicated columnist Chris Erskine, and J.A. Mills, and novelists Stephen Graham Jones, James D. Houston, John Hough Jr., Nafisa Haji, Renee Swindle, "CBS TV Late Late Show" host Craig Ferguson, Eduardo Santiago, Laura Catherine Brown, Mary Volmer, and Max Byrd. A member of AAR, Ms. Robbins has led workshops at the Writers Pad, UCLA Extension, UC Irvine Extension, and Squaw Valley Community of Writers Fiction Workshop.       

Rita Rosenkranz
Rita Rosenkranz Literary Agency
Rita Rosenkranz specializes in adult nonfiction projects. Her wide-ranging list includes health, history, parenting, music, how-to, popular science, business, biography, popular reference, memoir, cooking, spirituality, sports and general-interest titles. Rita works with major publishing houses, as well as regional publishers that handle niche markets. She represents first-time and well-established writers, and looks for projects that present familiar subjects freshly or lesser-known subjects presented commercially. Titles include Triumph of Genius: Edwin Land, Polaroid, and the Kodak Patent War by Ron Fierstein; A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math Even If You Flunked Algebra by Barbara Oakley; and On the Verge: Wake Up, Show Up, and Shine by Cara Bradley.

Regina Ryan
​Regina Ryan Books
I started in publishing as an editorial assistant and later an editor at Alfred A. Knopf. I then became editor-in-chief of Macmillan Adult Books, the first woman ever to hold that position in a major hardcover publishing house. My strong editorial background — first as an editor and later as a book producer — is very useful in helping my authors develop their projects in the most salable way. My many years of experience in the business and my extensive contacts help me to place their books with the best houses for their projects. I am a member of the AAR, the Women's Media Group, PEN, the Authors Guild, and the Agents Round Table. I am particularly interested in books on women's issues, natural history, science (especially neuroscience and behavior), psychology, the environment, parenting, health, wellness, diet, lifestyle, sustainability, popular reference, and leisure activities including sports, narrative travel, and gardening. I look for books that have something new to say, are well-written, and that will, if possible, make the world a better place.

Rayhané  Sanders
Massie & McQuilkin
Rayhané Sanders worked for Newsweek magazine, Penguin Group, and William Morris Endeavor before beginning to build her own list. Her authors include national and New York Times bestsellers; TED speakers; and winners of the Hopwood Award, Massachusetts Book Award, Oregon Book Award, Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award, and more. She’s looking for literary and upmarket women’s fiction and propulsive narrative nonfiction. She likes voice-centered projects that include specific settings and/or cross-cultural themes. She works for Massie & McQuilkin, and her authors include Lidia Yuknavitch, Jonathan Weisman, Alyson Foster, Margaret Malone, Kerry Cohen, and many more.

Victoria Skurnik
Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency
Victoria Skurnick has been an agent at the Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary Agency since 2007, when she left the Book-of-the-Month Club, where she was Editor-in-Chief. Before that, she was a senior editor at St. Martin’s Press and Pocket Books, Advertising Director at Holt, Rinehart & Winston, and co-author of seven novels. Her clients include Susan Elia MacNeal (Mr. Churchill’s Secretary), Senator Tom Daschle (Critical), Alice LaPlante (Turn of Mind), Harry Dolan (Bad Things Happen), Mary Louise Kelly (The Bullet), Kermit Roosevelt (Allegiance), and Jeff Nesbit (Poison Tea), among many others. Novels with a strong voice, provocative nonfiction, literary fiction, thrillers, great YA — all will be welcome.

Julie Stevenson
Massie & McQuilkin
I am drawn to fiction with unforgettable characters, an authorial command of voice, and a strong sense of narrative tension. I look for work that has a spark of originality and that explores the depths of human experience and the many facets of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, social class, and regional backgrounds. I have an MFA in creative writing from Sarah Lawrence College, and I specialize in editing fiction and enjoy contemplating craft and storytelling with clients. Books I have agented have become New York Times bestsellers and have won the Pulitzer Prize, the MWA Edgar Award, the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Carnegie Medal for Excellence, and the Tim McGinnis Award for Humor. I represent literary and upmarket fiction, suspense and thrillers, memoir, narrative nonfiction, YA, and some children's books. I am open to work in all genres (nonfiction, fiction, YA, suspense, children's books), as long as it commands my attention and conveys a story I won't soon forget.

Roger Williams
Roger Williams Agency
Roger Williams has worked in publishing for over thirty years as a bookseller and sales director. He is interested in nonfiction projects in the following categories: history (particularly American), socially or historically relevant biographies and memoirs, consumerism, marketing and business concepts, health, and social welfare. He will consider most historical or subject-specific narrative nonfiction. In the past two years, Roger sold over 20 properties, including four from writers with whom he connected at previous Washington Writers Conferences. He is a member of the Association of Author’s Representatives, the Society of Military History, and the Organization of American Historians. To learn more about what Roger is looking for in a project, click here. To see projects Roger has placed, click here.

 

 

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