Ecotone

ANNA LENA PHILLIPS BELL is the author of MIGHT COULD, winner of the Anthony Hecht Prize, Ornament, winner of the Vassar Miller Prize, and SMALLER SONGS, a chapbook from St Brigid Press. She teaches in the creative writing department at UNC Wilmington, where she is the editor of Ecotone. During her time as editor, Ecotone has received CLMP’s Firecracker Award for Magazines/General Excellence and the AWP Small Press Publisher Award, and work from its pages has been reprinted in anthologies including Best American Short Stories, Best American Poetry, and the Pushcart Prize anthology. Bell lives with her family near what’s now called the Cape Fear River.

The Rumpus, Beloit Poetry Journal, Jackleg Press

Dr. Taylor Byas, Ph.D. (she/her) is a Black Chicago native living in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her debut full-length novel I Done Clicked My Heels Three Times won the 2023 Maya Angelou Book Award, among others awards. Her second collection, Resting Bitch Face, is forthcoming August 2025 from Soft Skull Press.

SWING

Leigh Anne Couch, formerly at Duke University Press and The Sewanee Review, is a freelance editor of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and miscellany. She is also the founder and editor of SWING, a print literary magazine in partnership with The Porch, a nonprofit writers’ collective in Nashville, and co-editor of Sewanee Poetry, a series at LSU Press, publishing two collections a year. Her books of poetry include Every Lash (2020 Vassar Miller Prize winner) and Houses Fly Away (Zone 3 Press). She lives in Sewanee, Tennessee with writer Kevin Wilson and their sons, Griff and Patch. www.leighannecouch.com

The Southern Review

JESSICA FAUST joined The Southern Review in 2004 and became the journal’s coeditor and poetry editor in 2011. Poetry from the journal regularly appears in The Best American Poetry, the Pushcart Prize, Best New Poets, Best Small Fictions, Best Literary Translations, and on Poetry Daily. In 2025, five poems from The Southern Review were selected for The Best American Poetry and two for the Pushcart Prize.

Orion

TAJJA ISEN is the author of the essay collection SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS (2022) and the forthcoming memoir TOUGH LOVE (2027). She is the editor in chief of Orion magazine and has previously edited for Catapult, The Walrus (where she is currently a contributing writer), and Electric Literature. She has also co-edited the anthology THE WORLD AS WE KNEW IT. Her writing has been supported by fellowships from the Black Mountain Institute, the Ucross Foundation, and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. She lives in Las Vegas.

Little, Brown and Company

Sally Kim is President and Publisher of Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group. She was most recently SVP, Publisher of G.P. Putnam’s Sons (Penguin Random House), where she also acquired and edited acclaimed and bestselling fiction by Kiley Reid, Robert Jones, Jr., Chloe Benjamin, Steven Rowley, Megan Abbott, Sarah Winman, Alma Katsu, Cristina Alger, and Leah Stewart. She’s held senior editorial positions at Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, the Crown Publishing Group, and St. Martin’s Press, after getting her start at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency 30 years ago. In 2022, Poets & Writers honored her with The Editor’s Award.

Haymarket Books

MAYA MARSHALL is the poetry director of Haymarket Books. She has edited and published Mohammed El-Kurd’s RIFQA, Felicia Rose Chavez’s THE ANTIRACIST WRITING WORKSHOP, and her books have won or been finalists for the National Book Award, the Lambda Literary Award, the Chicago Review of Books Award, and the CLMP Firecracker Award. Marshall publishes voice-driven, leftist poetry. On the nonfiction side, Marshall seeks insightful, astute storytellers, whose expertise informs their lyrical prose. She publishes writers who are guided by a mission of justice and liberation. A poet and writer, Marshall is the author of ALL THE BLOOD INVOLVED IN LOVE and a cofounder of underbelly, the journal on the practical magic of poetic revision.

Susquehanna University Press

JESS MASTERTON is the director and head editor of Susquehanna University Press, located in Central Pennsylvania. She is also an assistant professor of publishing and media entrepreneurship. Her own writing can be found in recent issues of the Southern Review, the Gettysburg Review, the Cincinnati Review, and Quarterly West.

Sarabande Books

KRISTEN RENEE MILLER is the Director and Editor-in-Chief at Sarabande Books and the founder of Zine Machine. An award-winning poet and translator, she is a 2023 NEA Fellow and the translator of two books from the French by Ilnu Nation poet Marie-Andrée Gill. She is the recipient of honors from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, AIGA, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Gulf Coast Prize in Translation, and the American Literary Translators Association. Her work can be found widely, including in Poetry Magazine, The Nation, and Best New Poets. She lives in Louisville, Kentucky.

Kenyon Review

MISHA RAI is a Shirley Jackson Award-nominated writer whose work has received support from the Kenyon Review Fellowship Program, Bread Loaf Environmental Writers’ Conference, the Whiting Foundation, the Ucross Foundation, MacDowell, The Norton Island Residency for Writers & Artists, Corsicana Artist and Writer Residency, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Dana Award in the Novel Category. Her short story, “Twenty Years Ago” is a Distinguished story in the 2021 Best American Short Story anthology.

Milkweed Editions

DANIEL SLAGER is the Publisher and CEO of Milkweed Editions. Prior to joining Milkweed as Editor-in-Chief in 2005, he was an Editor at Harcourt Trade Publishers in New York. And prior to joining Harcourt, he was the Associate Editor of Grand Street, a leading quarterly magazine of literature and fine arts. Slager is also a widely published translator from the German, and he serves on the Board of Directors for Open Book in Minneapolis as well as the Advisory Board for Archipelago Books, an independent literary press based in Brooklyn.

AGNI

JESSICA Q. STARK has over a decade of experience in poetry publishing and is an Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at the University of North Florida. She is currently a Poetry Editor for AGNI and has judged poetry book contests for Tupelo Press, Trio House Press, and BOA Editions. She is the author of BUFFALO GIRL (BOA Editions, 2023), winner of a Florida Book Award and a finalist for the 2023 Maya Angelou Book Award, SAVAGE PAGEANT (Birds, LLC, 2020), and five poetry chapbooks, including most recently THE FLEA, which won first place for MAYDAY’s chapbook prize in 2025. She co-organizes the Dreamboat Reading Series in Jacksonville and curates the Riverrun Poetry Stream, an audio-collection of Florida-based poets.

New England Review

MAGGIE SU is the author of the novel BLOB: A LOVE STORY (Harper, 2025). BLOB was named one of the best books of 2025 by Debutiful, Electric Literature, and The New Yorker, and has been longlisted for the PEN/Hemingway award. Maggie serves as a fiction editor for New England Review and holds a PhD in fiction from University of Cincinnati. Her short fiction has appeared in DIAGRAM, TriQuarterly Review, Puerto del Sol, and elsewhere. She lives in South Bend, Indiana, with her partner, daughter, cat, and turtle.

William Morrow/HarperCollins

JESSICA WILLIAMS is VP, Editorial Director at William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins. She edits a range of fiction and nonfiction projects, and her list includes everything from PEN/Faulkner, Edgar, Whiting, and Lambda Literary finalists and winners, National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honorees, and National Book Award Longlisted novels, to numerous celebrity book club picks. Some of her most recent publications include Rufi Thorpe's MARGO’S GOT MONEY TROUBLES, which was adapted into a television series by Apple TV with A24 producing; Tony Tulathimutte's REJECTION, which was longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award in Fiction; award-winning memoirist, T Kira Madden’s debut novel WHIDBEY; and New York Times bestselling author Melissa Albert’s THE CHILDREN.

Atria Books and Washington Square Press

JENNY XU is a Senior Editor at Atria Books. She began her career at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and was most recently an Editor at Harper and Ecco. Jenny acquires a broad range of literary and commercial nonfiction and the occasional poetry collection, with a particular focus on illuminating more overlooked aspects of history and culture, and work that balances the personal with broader narratives. She has published National Book Award finalists and bestselling books, including WHISKEY TENDER, SCORCHED EARTH, BECOMING GHOST, RISE: A POP HISTORY OF ASIAN AMERICA, and more.

Colorado Review

FELICIA ZAMORA is the author of eight books of poetry including MURMURATION ARCHIVES (Akrilica Series, Noemi Press 2026), INTERSTITIAL ARCHAEOLOGY (Wisconsin Poetry Series 2025), I ALWAYS CARRY MY BONES (Iowa Poetry Prize/Ohioana Book Award - Poetry), and BODY OF RENDER (Benjamin Saltman Award winner). She’s won the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize, Loraine Williams Poetry Prize, C.P. Cavafy Prize, Tomaž Šalamun Prize, Wabash Prize, and two Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards as well as received fellowships and residencies from CantoMundo, Ragdale Foundation, Tin House, and Yaddo. Her poems appear in American Poetry Review, Best American Poetry, Boston Review, Ecotone, The Kenyon Review, The Nation, Orion, Ploughshares, Poetry Magazine, West Branch, and others. She is an associate professor of poetry at the University of Cincinnati and a poetry editor for Colorado Review.

William Morris Endeavor

ETHAN BASSOFF joined William Morris Endeavor in 2023, bringing with him a client roster featuring New York Times bestselling authors and recipients of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Whiting Award, PEN/Hemingway Award, the Livingston Award, National Magazine Award, Guggenheim and NEA fellows, and many other honors. He is interested in a wide range of writing, including literary and crime fiction, creative nonfiction, history, current events, cultural criticism, sports, science, technology, business, and pop culture and entertainment. Ethan is passionate about important, life-changing subjects told through engaging stories, and brings a strong editorial approach to his clients’ books. A graduate of Emerson College and a former indie bookstore manager, he lectures regularly about book publishing and writing across the country, and keeps store browsers in mind when pursuing new authors. After over a decade in New York, he now lives in the Boston area with his family.

The Gernert Company

SARAH BURNES is a literary agent at The Gernert Company, where she represents fiction writers, journalists, critics, and several poets. Among them are Christopher Beha, Ruth Franklin, John Freeman, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Susanna Hoffs, Linda Holmes, Alice McDermott, Patricia Park, Caryl Phillips, and Robin Sloan. Her writers have either won or been shortlisted for the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, the Los Angeles Times First Book Prize, the Whiting Writer’s Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Awards; received grants and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the Cullman Center at the New York Public Library, and the National Endowment for the Arts, among others; and been selections of Oprah’s Book Club, Reese’s Book Club, and the Read With Jenna Book Club. Sarah sits on the board of the progressive publisher The New Press and co-founded the school visit non-profit Writers and Artists Across the Country. She lives with her family in Brooklyn, NY.

Janklow & Nesbit

MINA HAMEDI grew up in Istanbul, Turkey and is of Turkish/Iranian descent. She joined Janklow & Nesbit in 2018. Mina represents adult literary fiction and nonfiction and is interested in stories from around the world. She also seeks voices in translation and writers from underrepresented backgrounds. Mina is a member of the American Association of Literary Agents (AALA) and lives in New York City.

Renegade Literary

At Renegade Literary, ANNIE HWANG represents literary fiction with teeth alongside a list of established poets. Her authors include John Paul Brammer, Franny Choi, Lilly Dancyger, Carson Faust, Janet Hong, Sequoia Nagamatsu, Hieu Minh Nguyen, and Jihyun Yun. She has been honored to work on books recognized by the National Book Award, the Whiting Award, the National Book Critics Circle, and the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize. Across her list, she looks for writers whose work is urgent as well as formally and emotionally alive. The daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, she is originally from Los Angeles and now lives in New York.

William Morris Endeavor

MARGARET RILEY KING is a partner and literary agent in WME’s global book division. She loves to laugh and learn, be challenged and entertained. She believes that the greatest books not only teach you something about yourself and the world around you, but make you think and feel deeply. She is deeply committed to growing, nurturing, and guiding literary careers long-term. She splits her time between New York City and her hometown of Nashville, Tennessee, where she lives with her husband and three daughters.

Aevitas Creative Management

SARAH LEVITT is a senior literary agent at Aevitas Creative Management in New York. She represents critically acclaimed, award-winning, and NYT bestselling nonfiction and select fiction writers. She's particularly interested in narrative nonfiction (science, history, big ideas, reportage, and smart culture writing with a sense of play), plus voice-driven literary fiction with bold plots and fresh, imaginative characters. She’s excited by strong female and underrepresented voices, the strange and speculative, folklore, myth, and projects that ignite cultural conversation.

The Wylie Agency

KRISTI MURRAY is a literary agent at The Wylie Agency, a privately owned literary agency which has been in business for over 40 years, with offices in New York and London. She represents literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, cultural criticism and poetry. A graduate of Colorado College, she lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Brandt & Hochman

EMMA PATTERSON has two decades of experience at literary agencies, and is currently an agent at Brandt & Hochman, where she has been since 2013. She represents fiction ranging from dark, voice-driven literary novels to historical and upmarket fiction to feminist fiction with a speculative bent; narrative non-fiction that includes memoir, investigative journalism, and history; and select children’s titles. Her authors are NYT bestsellers as well as winners or finalists of awards such as the Pulitzer, The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, PEN Awards, O. Henry Awards, and others. She represents emerging voices, established writers, and ongoing series. She has a particular soft spot for fiction that grapples with relationships (of all kinds), international or otherwise transporting settings, and writing with a sly sense of humor that also has emotional heft.

Trellis Literary Management

MARIAH STOVALL is a literary agent at Trellis Literary Management. She previously worked at the agencies Howland Literary and Writers House, and at the publishers Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Gallery Books. She represents adult literary and upmarket fiction, and narrative nonfiction and essay collections, all by writers with strong voices and interdisciplinary perspectives. Across genres, she gravitates toward outsiders and stylish, inventive storytelling. Her clients include Tom Comitta, Sonya Huber, Melissa Mogollon, and Mai Sennaar. She’s based in Newark, New Jersey.

Trident Media Group

MARTHA WYDYSH is a literary agent at Trident Media Group where she represents mainly literary fiction and upmarket fiction. Her clients have won the O. Henry Prize, have been included in The Best American Short Stories anthologies, and have been nominated for and won such awards as the National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35, the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, the NYPL Young Lions Fiction Award, the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize and the PEN Open Book Award, the Story Prize, the Thurber Prize for American Humor in Writing, the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction, and the California Book Awards. In addition to working with her clients on their book projects, Martha is proud to have placed their short work with such publications as The Paris Review, The Sewanee Review, The Atlantic, Granta, and McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Massie McQuilkin & Altman Literary Agents

RENÉE ZUCKERBROT worked as an editor before becoming an agent. Her clients include Jonathan Escoffery, 'Pemi Aguda, Kelly Link, Dan Chaon, Rebecca Lehmann, and SWC alumni M.O. Walsh and Caroline Kim. Her clients have won or been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, Booker Prize, National Book Award, MacArthur Fellowship, PEN/Faulkner, and the Story Prize, among other awards. Her clients' books have been adapted for the large screen (Annapurna Pictures) and small screen (Hulu and Apple).

Actor

OMALOLU “OJ” FIKI is a first-generation Nigerian-American actor, stand-up comedian, and teaching artist. A classically trained performer, she works across theater, film, voiceover, and solo performance, with screen credits including THE SKY’S FOREST (Apple TV/Amazon) and voice work for major national brands and animation. Her teaching explores character, voice, and physical embodiment as tools for writers and performers alike. She is a teaching artist with the SAG-AFTRA Foundation and the creator of the solo show KILLING JANET.

ACTOR

MARY GLEN FREDRICK (they/them) is a New York-based writer and actor, hailing mostly from Kansas City. Acting credits include Theatre for a New Audience, JACK, La Jolla Playhouse, Ensemble Studio Theatre, The Lark, Oakland Theater Project, The Drama League, and indie films Stag, Sunday, Inheritance, Been So Good, Ashley & Walter &, Lone Hiker, and Pink Noise. As a writer, their work has been supported, developed, and produced by Tribeca x Chanel, Venturous Theater Fund, National New Play Network, Fresh Ground Pepper, the Eastern Frontier Residency, Theater Alliance, Crowded Fire Theater, The VORTEX, and Unicorn Theatre. MG received their BA in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity from Stanford University, and their MFA in Acting from UC San Diego. heymaryglen.com

TORCHLIGHT ARTISTS GROUP

KATIE GAMELLI is a theatrical literary agent who represents multi-hyphenate artists, including playwrights, composers, lyricists, directors, designers, creators, orchestrators, and screenwriters. Named by the Broadway Women’s Fund as one of the 2020 Women to Watch on Broadway, she spent the first decade of her career at A3 Artists Agency (formerly Abrams), where she became known for building a diverse and dynamic roster of clients. In 2022, she joined Paladin Artists, where she created and led the company’s Theatre Department, focusing on fostering opportunities between the music and theatre worlds. In spring 2026, she founded Torchlight Artists Group, a company dedicated to providing personalized representation for multi-hyphenate artists with a focus on long-term career strategy.
A passionate advocate for new play and musical development, Gamelli has also worked with The Kleban Foundation and served on the Encores! Off-Center Artists’ Board (led by Jeanine Tesori) as well as the Musical Theatre Factory Advisory Board. She currently sits on the advisory board of The Bridge Incubator and is a recurring guest instructor at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference.

Michael Moore Agency

BEN IZZO is currently a Literary Agent specializing in the representation of playwrights, directors, composers, and theatrical designers. He previously held positions at Roundabout Theatre Company and New York Theatre Workshop and served as an associate producer for the inaugural season of Fulcrum Theatre Company in New York City. In his thirteen years of agenting, his over 60 clients' work has appeared on stages all over the world and have been nominated or won every major award including the Tony, Drama Desk, Lortel and Whiting. He has been a past judge for the New York Musical Theatre Festival and Kleban Award in addition to being a lecturer at New York University and Hunter College.

LEIGH DANA JACKSON is an Emmy-nominated writer, producer, and showrunner. He is currently a writer and Executive Producer for an upcoming live-action LucasFilm series for Disney+ and an upcoming animated series for HBO. He previously wrote and Executive Produced the pilot THE SPOOK WHO SAT BY THE DOOR for FX, where he also co-wrote a reboot of the acclaimed series NYPD BLUE and served as Consulting Producer for the series THE OLD MAN, starring Jeff Bridges. At AppleTV+, he served as a writer and Executive Producer for the first three seasons of the hit series FOUNDATION. At Netflix, he wrote and Co-Executive Produced the Emmy-nominated series RAISING DION and is a writer and Co-Executive Producer for the upcoming EXTRACTION spinoff series. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, novelist Sarah Shun-lien Bynum.

Actor

SEAN MCINTYRE is a professional actor and educator, with over two decades of experience on Broadway, Off-broadway, and regional stages, as well as extensive work in film, tv, and voiceover. He is a professor of Acting at Adelphi University and at SUNY Old Westbury, and is a long time teaching artist with Rehabilitation Through the Arts, where he works with incarcerated individuals on artistic and self expression through a humanistic approach.

New Dramatists

EMILY MORSE is a multi-faceted theatre practitioner whose career has encompassed performing, directing, playwriting, dramaturgy, devising, producing, arts administration, curating and artistic consulting at theatres and companies of all sizes. Currently, she is the Artistic Director of New Dramatists, where she has been on staff since 2001. In May 2010, Emily received an inaugural Lilly Award for Playwright Advocacy, and in 2024, she was honored by New Georges at their fall Gala. https://newdramatists.org/board-staff-interns.

Ars Nova

ANNA MORTON STACEY is a dramaturg and producer. She serves as Co-Artistic Director at Ars Nova, where she was previously an Associate Artistic Director. Anna has worked in the artistic departments at Roundabout Theatre Company and McCarter Theatre Center, where she developed plays COVENANT by York Walker, YOU WILL GET SICK by Noah Diaz, and GLORIA: A LIFE by Emily Mann, among other projects. Anna’s dramaturgy credits include THE REFUGE PLAYS by Nathan Alan Davis (Roundabout/ New York Theatre Workshop) WHAT THE HELL IS A REPUBLIC, ANYWAY? by Denis O’Hare and Lisa Peterson (New York Theatre Workshop), and the short play collection THE MIGRATION PLAYS (McCarter Theatre Center).

Actor

JESUS I. VALLES (they/them) is a queer Mexican immigrant, educator, writer-performer from Cd. Juarez/El Paso. Valles is the winner of the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting International Award (SPREAD), a 2023 Princess Grace Award in Theater, the 2023 Yale Drama Series, selected by Jeremy O. Harris (Bathhouse.pptx), the 2022 Kernodle Playwriting Prize (a river, its mouths), and was named the 2022 Emerging Theatre Professional by the National Theatre Conference. As a poet, Valles received fellowships from CantoMundo, Community of Writers, Idyllwild Arts, Lambda Literary, Tin House, and Undocupoets. Valles was a Core Apprentice of the Playwrights’ Center, a writing fellow with The Playwrights Realm, and is currently a member of New Dramatists class of 2031. Additionally, Valles was a 2025 Writing Freedom Fellow with Haymarket Books.

PLAYRIGHTS' CENTER

NICOLE A. WATSON is the Producing Artistic Director of the Playwrights’ Center, an artist-service organization in St. Paul Minnesota. Through the Center’s robust fellowship program, Nicole supports and advocates for playwrights in the Twin Cities and across the county. As an arts leader, theater director, and educator, Nicole has championed new play development throughout her career. Prior to her appointment at the Center, Nicole was the Associate Artistic Director at the McCarter Theatre Center where she launched the Toni Morrison Commissions. In partnership with Round House Theatre, she produced and curated a digital festival celebrating the work of Adrienne Kennedy. More information can be found at www.nicoleawatson.com.

The Playwrights Realm

Alexis Williams is the Associate Artistic Director of The Playwrights Realm in NY. Before joining the Realm, Alexis worked as an agent at Bret Adams Artists’ Agency. Alexis was named one of the Interval's "Women To Watch", she is on the advisory board of the Bret n’ Paul Foundation, is an alumnus of the Lincoln Center Director’s Lab and is a graduate of Northwestern University.

Awakeners, Lit Hub Radio

LENA CROWN produces and hosts Awakeners, a Lit Hub Radio podcast about mentorship in the literary arts. On each episode, she interviews writers who matter to one another, and together they revisit the early days of the relationship, read from their work, and discuss what has shaped their craft, their pedagogy, and their careers. Her own work can be found in Guernica, Narratively, Passages North, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction and has taught creative writing at George Mason University, Colgate, and Rutgers. She also edits books for Autofocus, a small press.