Wednesday, November 18, 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Penguin Random House, 1745 Broadway (between 55th & 56th Streets), Cerf-Lane Room, 14th floor, NYC
$20 for WMG members and partner organizations; $25 for non-members; $10 for active Scholars
What does it take to land a book deal in this tough market? In this conversation, acclaimed agents, editors and authors share unexpected ways that can help you get your book published.
Jiwon Choi, Kavita Das, Amina Iro, Kate McKean, Rebecca Morrison, Sarah Robbins, and Kaitlyn Wells will offer guidance to help you find your own path to publication. The conversation will be moderated by Susan Shapiro, professor and author of 18 book including her writing guide The Book Bible: How to Sell Your Manuscript―No Matter What Genre―Without Going Broke or Insane.
Panelists:
Jiwon Choi is a poet, preschool teacher, and urban gardener. She is the author of three poetry collections. Her most recent book, A Temporary Dwelling, was published by Spuyten Duyvil in 2024. Jiwon’s reviews, essays and poems have been published by Mom Egg Review, Heavy Feather Review, Rigorous, and Broken Lens Journal, among other platforms. She started her Brooklyn community garden’s first poetry reading series, Poets Read in the Garden, to support local writers. She is an editor at Hanging Loose Press. Find her online at iusedtobekorean.com.
Kavita Das came to writing after working for social change and social justice for nearly fifteen years and writes about culture, race, gender, and their intersections. She is the author of Craft and Conscience: How to Write About Social Issues (Beacon Press, 2022), inspired by her Writing with Conscience class and her music biography, Poignant Song: The Life and Music of Lakshmi Shankar (Harper Collins India, 2019). Kavita is pursuing her MFA in Creative Nonfiction and Screenwriting at Antioch University.
Amina Iro is an editor at Legacy Lit where she has edited books by authors Colin Kaepernick, Al Roker and Courtney Roker Laga, and Langston Hughes. Amina has held writing fellowships at Rosemary’s House, Take World Lisbon, the Watering Hole, and the Hustson/Wright Foundation. She is interested in books with brave motifs that invite readers to the juncture of identity and social change. On the side she works as a developmental editor who helps with ideas, written proposals, and fully written nonfiction manuscripts.
Kate McKean is a literary agent at the Howard Morhaim Literary Agency. She earned her MA in fiction writing at the University of Southern Mississippi. Her first book, Write Through It: An Insider’s Guide to Publishing and the Creative Life, is available from Simon Element. In 2026, Sourcebooks published her picture book, Pay Attention to Me. She writes the Agents & Books newsletter at agentsandbooks.com. You can find her at katemckean.com.
Rebecca Morrison is a lawyer and writer born in Iran. She immigrated to the United States in her teens. Rebecca’s debut novel, The Blue Dress, is based on her childhood as an Iranian immigrant trying to fit into her family's expectations of beauty and her American homeland. She writes for The New York Times, The Washington Post, TODAY, NBC News, Salon, HuffPost, and Newsweek and lives in the Washington, D.C. area with her husband and two kids.
Sarah Robbins (they/them) is an associate editor at Abrams Books, acquiring narrative nonfiction, memoir, and gift books for Abrams and Abrams Press with notable titles including Paper Doll by Dylan Mulvaney, We Will Be Jaguars by Nemonte Nenquimo, and Wards of the State by Claudia Rowe. They were named a Rising Star Honoree by Publishers Weekly in 2025. Sarah is an original organizing committee member of the Abrams Union and is currently on the bargaining committee working towards their first union contract.
Kaitlyn Wells is a staff writer at The New York Times' Wirecutter. She’s an award-winning journalist and author of Under the Clam Moon and A Family Looks Like Love, which received an NABJ Outstanding Books Award and is a Children’s Book Council pick. She is also the lead author of the National Geographic Kids Encyclopedia of African American History & Culture. A double lung transplant recipient, Kaitlyn inhales every moment with her wonderful husband, a clever toddler, energetic dog, and floofy cat. Find her online at kaitwells.com.
Moderator:
Susan Shapiro is the bestselling author/coauthor of 18 books her family hates including the memoirs Lighting Up and Five Men Who Broke My Heart. She freelances for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and others. She has taught writing at NYU, The New School, and Columbia University’s MFA program and now teaches private classes online, using her practical guides, Byline Bible and Book Bible, to help students of all ages publish. Follow Susan on Instagram @profsue123 or email Profsue123@gmail.com.
Refunds available up to 48 hours before the event. No refunds for cancellations made within 48 hours of the event.
