The Making of a Young Adult Bestseller:
From Acquisition to Reader

Wednesday, November 14, 6:00PM - 8:00PM

Wix Lounge
10 West 18th Street, 2nd Floor

WNBA-NYC members attend free of charge.
Non-Members must pay $10 online via PayPal.

All attendees need to register/pay by November 13

Please join us for an exciting evening of discussion, when we speak with a panel of publishing professionals representing the entire process of publishing young adult books, moderated by Betsy Bird, NYPL Youth Materials Specialist. Each panelist will share their experiences and insights about what it takes to succeed in today's competitive young adult marketplace. Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to hear from an incredible group of industry leaders!

Jenny Bent, Literary Agent

Jenny founded the Bent Agency in 2009, after 15 years of experience
in the industry, most recently as a Vice President at Trident Media Group. 
Since opening its doors, the agency has represented over 25 NYT bestsellers,
added four new agents and started a London office.  Her agency website can be found
at www.thebentagency.com.

Betsy Bird, Youth Materials Specialist for the New York Public Library
Betsy is the author of Children's Literature Gems: Choosing and Using Them in Your Library Career and runs the Fuse #8 Production blog at School Library Journal's website.  Betsy reviews for Kirkus and The New York Times and her picture book
Giant Dance Party will be published with Greenwillow, an imprint of Harper Collins, Spring 2013. Her other book Wild Things: The True and Untold Stories Behind Children's Books will be published by Candlewick in the Fall of 2013 and was co-written with Jules Danielson and the late great Peter Sieruta.

Susan Katz, President and Publisher, HarperCollins Children’s Books
Susan joined Harper and Row in 1987 as Publisher of the College Division and a member of the Executive Committee. In 1993 Katz became Group Vice President of Education, managing the School and College Divisions of the Company and shortly thereafter she also added the responsibility of overseeing the Corporate Interactive Group. In 1996, Katz became President of the Children’s Division, which is her current
position. She has more than doubled the revenues of the Division and has published more children’s bestsellers than any other publisher. She has had the honor of working with such authors as Maurice Sendak, Shel Silverstein, Neil Gaiman, John Grogan, Clive Barker, Eric Carle, Jamie Lee Curtis, Daniel Handler, Jane O’Connor, and Melissa Marr.

Hannah Moskowitz, Author
Hannah is the author of several books for young adult and middle-grade audiences, including Zombie Tag; Gone, Gone, Gone; and Break, a 2010 YALSA
Popular Paperback for Young Adults that came out five days before she started her freshman year of college. When she's not writing, she's a student and Rocky Horror Picture Show performer at the University of Maryland. Her next book, Teeth,
comes out January 1, 2013.


Joy Peskin, Editorial Director, Farrar, Straus & Giroux Books for Young Readers
Joy was the associate publisher of Viking Children’s Books, and an editor at Scholastic before joining Farrar, Straus & Giroux in January of 2012. Joy has edited books for children of all ages. Her favorite type of books, both to read and to edit, are stories about real (or realistic) people facing real-life challenges. Authors with whom she has worked include Laurie Halse Anderson, Madeleine George, Amy Efaw, and Paul Volponi. Joy has also taught writing to aspiring authors, homeless youth, and incarcerated women.


Marisa Russell, Publicity Manager, Penquin Young Readers Group
Marisa worked at HarperCollins Children’s Books and A. Lavin Communications
Group prior to joining Penguin in 2012. She has worked with bestselling authors such as Richelle Mead, Mike Lupica, Marie Lu, Sara Shepard, and Kevin Henkes.

Located steps from Union Square, the Wix Lounge is a completely free co-working and event space for creative professionals. Grab your laptop, pop into the Lounge and enjoy a productive workday, great networking opportunities, and amazing events. Active since 2010, the Wix Lounge is run by Wix.com, a free website publishing platform providing user friendly tools for building beautiful, easy-to-make desktop, mobile, and Facebook sites. The Wix Lounge provides free support to Wix.com users, giving them help and advice for making the ideal website. To learn more about the Wix Lounge, please visit www.wixlounge.com.