Updated Conference Information – including speakers!
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Jacqueline Woodson – Visit her site at www.jacquelinewoodson.com to learn more about this incredible author.
Betsy & Ted Lewin – Fabulous illustrators who each have their own individual sites. You can read and see all about Betsy at: www.betsylewin.com/index.html and all about Ted at: www.tedlewin.com/index.html
EDITORS
Emma D. Dryden was born and raised in New York City. During college, she worked as a summer intern at Viking Children's Books and after her graduation from Smith College, she took a position as Editorial Assistant, Random House Children's Books. She started at Margaret K. McElderry Books in 1990 and in 1998, upon Margaret McElderry's retirement, became Senior Editor of the imprint and then Vice President, Editorial Director. In 2005, she was named Vice President, Associate Publisher of Atheneum Books for Young Readers and Margaret K. McElderry Books, and in 2008 was named Vice President, Publisher of both imprints, which are autonomous imprints of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.
Emma oversees an editorial staff of nine and the publication of 85-90 hardcover titles and 60+ paperback titles per year. She edits approximately 10-13 titles each year including picture books, poetry, middle grade fiction, and teen fiction. Some of the best-selling and award-winning titles Emma has edited include Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson & Jane Chapman; Oops! by Alan Katz & Edward Koren; The Legend of Buddy Bush by Shelia P. Moses; Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean; and Identical by Ellen Hopkins.
Nancy Conescu is Editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Under Megan Tingley, she worked on novels by Stephenie Meyer, Julie Anne Peters, Trenton Lee Steward, Mary Ann Hoberman, and Todd Parr. Nancy’s list includes ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley, This is What I Did: by Ann Dee Ellis, the Suddenly Supernatural series by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel, and the Vampirates series by Justin Somper. Her forthcoming titles include Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink, School of Fear by Gitty Daneshvari, Martha Doesn’t Say Sorry by Samantha Berger and illustrated by Bruce Whatley, and Nubs by Major Brian Dennis, Kirby Larson, and Mary Nethery. Before joining Little, Brown Nancy worked in the paperback and mass market divisions of the Penguin Young Readers Group.
Namrata Tripathi is Senior Editor at Hyperion Books for Children and Jump at the Sun. She acquires everything from fiction and nonfiction picture books to middle grade and YA novels. She has the pleasure of working with Donna Jo Napoli, Christopher Myers, Chris Raschka, and Rosemary Wells among others and has also launched several debut author-illustrators such as Julian Hector, Lita Judge, and John Rocco. She is very interested in finding picture books for the Jump at the Sun list and older fiction with a unique voice and diverse characters.
AGENTS
Jamie Weiss Chilton is an associate agent with Andrea Brown Literary and represents children’s books in all genres. Her specific interests include literary fiction with intense emotional content; smart thrillers and mysteries; science fiction and reality-based fantasy; surreal stories and magical realism; unique voices; sweet, funny, quirky chapter books and picture books. Jamie began her career in children’s books with an internship at Henry Holt Books for young readers, followed by editorial positions at Knopf and Crown Books for Young Readers and Bantam Delacorte Dell Books for Young Readers, both imprints of Random House Children’s Books. View her agent profile at: http://www.andreabrownlit.com/agents.php.
Stephen Barbara is a literary agent and the contracts director of the Donald Maass Literary Agency, which he joined in January of 2006. He specializes in discovering, developing, and managing talented authors with long-term career goals in the world of books for young readers (everything from teen novels down to picture books). Among his clients are acclaimed children's author Lynne Jonell (Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat), longtime popular YA author Todd Strasser (Give a Boy a Gun), and Texas Blue Bonnet nominee Lisa Graff (The Thing About Georgie). Recent sales of Stephen’s include Sunder by Heidi Ayarbe (Balzer & Bray), If I Should Fall by Lauren Oliver (Bowen Press/ HarperCollins), Todd Strasser's new teen thriller series, Wish U Wr Dead (Egmont US), The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein by Libby Schmais (Delacorte Press), Kindred by Tammar Stein (Alfred Knopf), and The Dead Family Diaz and a second picture book by P.J. Bracegirdle (Dial Books).
Prior to starting at DMLA, Stephen was a reviewer of first fiction and a sports writer for the Wall Street Journal, and has worked previously at HarperCollins and the Fifi Oscard Agency. View his agent profile at: http://www.maassagency.com/agents.html.
AUTHORS
Jim Averbeck’s first picture book In a Blue Room has received praise from Publisher’s Weekly (starred, boxed review) and School Library Journal (starred review) among others. Jim studied Children’s Book Writing and Illustration at the University of California Berkeley. He is a wonderful illustrator, writer, and our previous Regional Advisor. Visit his site at www.jimaverbeck.com/index.html.
Ellen Hopkins is a poet and award-winning author, with 20 published nonfiction books for children and five NY Times bestselling young adult novels-in-verse. Her sixth novel publishes August 2009. She is currently hard at work on her seventh and says she hopes for a Printz nomination before she reaches her expiration date. Hopkins lives with her husband, 11-year-old son, two dogs, one cat and a “whole mess of fish” on her hilltop estate near Carson City Nevada. Visit her site at: http://www.ellenhopkins.com.
