ROUNDTABLE SESSION 1

10:10 AM - 11:00 AM

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Roundtable Session 2

Roundtable Session 3

BOOK CLUB FICTION

DISCUSSION LEADER

  • Liz Stein edits a range of book club-friendly fiction, including thought-provoking women’s fiction, speculative fiction, high-concept mysteries and thrillers, and historical fiction with a fresh perspective. Liz has held publishing positions since 2007; prior to joining Morrow in 2018, she was an editor at Harlequin and Penguin Random House.

business/personal success

DISCUSSION LEADER

  • Stephanie Hitchcock is the founding editorial director of Simon Acumen, the business imprint of Simon & Schuster. They have published notable successes like Tiago Forte’s Wall Street Journal Bestseller Building a Second Brain; How to Live a Meaningful Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans, and Amy Edmondson’s Right Kind of Wrong, which won the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year.

cookbook/illustrated

DISCUSSION LEADER

  • Sally Ekus is a Senior Literary Agent at JVNLA, where she specializes in cookbooks and non-fiction and has brokered over 300 book deals. Sally also authors the best-selling Substack newsletter, Not So Secret Agent. Sally is on the advisory council for the Julia Child Foundation and a 2026 Cherry Bombe Power List honoree. She is a proud member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, Women’s Media Group, and The Association of American Literary Agents.

graphic novel

DISCUSSION LEADER

  • Tess Banta is an editor who began working with First Second and 23rd Street in 2021. She kicked off her career in story development at LAIKA animation studio in 2016—every day since, she’s marveled that “help creatives tell their stories” is a real job, and one she gets to do. Born and raised in Brooklyn, in her spare time Tess enjoys drawing, writing, and interrupting conversations to point out particularly magnificent trees.

horror

DISCUSSION LEADER

  • Mika oversees the adult fiction and classics lists across both the adult and children's divisions at Union Square & Co. She has worked with horror authors Cassandra Khaw, Cynthia Pelayo, Gwendoline Kiste, and Jonathan Edward Durham, plus the estate of Harlan Ellison. She previously worked at Penguin Random House’s One World and Roc Lit 101 imprints, and was the editorial manager of Modern Library.

middle Grade realistic

DISCUSSION LEADER

  • Editor of fun, funny and moving books, with middle grade having her whole heart. She works with Stuart Gibbs, Susan Hood, Kelly Yang, Beach and Rachel Poliquin (and many more!). Before joining S&S in 2016, Krista worked for over eight years at Delacorte Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

narrative nonfiction

DISCUSSION LEADER

  • Alex Littlefield is Editorial Director, Nonfiction for Little, Brown, where he acquires and publishes a wide range of narrative and idea-driven nonfiction, primarily in the categories of history, biography, politics, current affairs, and science. Before joining Little, Brown in 2022, Alex spent sixteen years in the editorial departments of HarperCollins’s Mariner Books imprint, Basic Books, and Grove/Atlantic.

new managers

DISCUSSION LEADER

  • Eva Scalzo is Agency Director & Senior Literary Agent at Speilburg Literary Agency. She represents Adult and Young Adult commercial fiction. She is a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico and Emerson College. Eva serves as Secretary of the Board at the AALA and is on multiple Committees.

picture book

DISCUSSION LEADER

  • Andrea Spooner, Senior Executive Editor, has worked at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers since 2003, spending nearly a decade as VP, Editorial Director of Picture Books. She’s worked with award-winning and bestselling talents Jerry Pinkney, Oge Mora, Dan Santat, Chris Harris, and more, working on titles like Patrice Karst’s The Invisible String, plus YA and MG novels including Ali Benjamin’s The Thing About Jellyfish and dozens of James Patterson’s bestselling books for kids.

politics/current events/history

DISCUSSION LEADER

  • William Heyward is an Executive Editor at Penguin Press, where he acquires and edits a wide range of nonfiction and literary fiction. The authors he has edited and published include Kate Conger, Ryan Mac, James Shapiro, Jonathan Blitzer, Salvatore Scibona, Joshua Wong, Joana Avillez, Molly Young, Wolfram Eilenberger, Adrienne Raphel, Bo Seo, Yaroslav Trofimov, Elias Muhanna, A. C. Grayling, Henry Grabar, Sam Knight, Mariana Mazzucato, Rosamund Young, and Werner Herzog. He previously worked in the editorial department of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. 

romance

DISCUSSION LEADER

  • Junessa Viloria has loved romance since probably before she should have and enjoys all forms of HEAs. She joined the Forever team in 2019, after spending eleven years at Penguin Random House, and acquires all subgenres of romance and commercial women’s fiction. She has worked with many New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors. 

sf/fantasy

DISCUSSION LEADER

  • Cameron McClure specializes in adult science-fiction, fantasy, and horror. Her authors are known for writing thoughtful and incredibly fun books. Cameron has been at the Donald Maass agency for 20 years, and her clients include Robert Jackson Bennett, Ada Palmer, Micaiah Johnson, Katherine Addison, Robert McCammon, and Jo Walton.

ya genre

DISCUSSION LEADER

  • Bria Ragin is a Senior Editor at Delacorte Press and Joy Revolution. She started her publishing career in 2016 at HarperCollins, moving to Random House Children’s Books in 2021. She primarily acquires fresh, commercial young adult genre fiction—horror, thriller, mystery, and her favorite, romance. She has worked with bestselling and award-winning authors including Talia Hibbert, Angela Montoya, Mia P. Manansala, Amalie Howard, and Kristin Cast.