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2023 AGENT ONE-ON-ONE MEETINGS
No Additional Cost/Limited Availability
Included with your Regular One- or Two-Day Conference Registration
Take advantage of this opportunity to secure one individual session with a literary agent, based on availability. These are optional sessions, which must be scheduled in advance unless otherwise announced. Included with your regular conference ticket at no additional cost.
These appointments are not transferable to others and no one can have more than one agent meeting/consultation. Appointment slots are limited.
Scheduling
When you register for the conference you will be able to select your first and second choices for agents. Your second agent choice indicates who you would like to see if your first choice is not available. It is not a second meeting. Be sure to review the agent choices below and make your selections prior to beginning the registration process.
By early September, we will send you further information about your scheduled appointment(s). Please do not contact us with questions about scheduling until after that time.
These individual meetings are assigned on a first-come-first-served basis and may fill up. Early registration is recommended to ensure you can take advantage of these opportunities.
On Selecting an Agent
How to make the best use of your appointment
We are pleased to offer a diverse selection of agents who represent a wide range of genres. However, please note, not all genres are available. When reviewing which agents you would like to select as your first and second choices on your conference registration form, review each bio carefully, including any links to their agent websites and manuscript wishlists (MSWL), to make sure you are selecting agents who represent the type of work you write. Many of these agents are not currently open to submissions or queries without referrals, so this is an opportunity not to be squandered. It’s a waste of your time and theirs (not to mention taking an appointment that might be a good match for someone else) if you pitch an agent on your inspirational memoir when the agent primarily represents young adult science fiction and fantasy. Choose carefully to maximize the benefit to everyone.
You will make your agent selections when completing your regular conference registration form.
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Confirmed Agents for 2023
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Christopher Combemale
Christopher Combemale is an associate agent at Sterling Lord Literistic. He is looking for a broad range of bold literary fiction and upmarket fiction with an unexpected hook. In non-fiction he is interested in essay, cultural criticism, and expert-driven projects across popular psychology, science, food, and any book that asks big questions about forces of change. As a Singaporean/French/American born and raised in London, he is drawn to international voices and handles work in translation for select foreign publishers. He graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill as a Morehead-Cain Scholar.
Reiko Davis
Reiko Davis\’s appointments are now full.
Reiko Davis joined DeFiore and Company in 2016 after working at Miriam Altshuler Literary Agency for four years. She represents literary and upmarket fiction, narrative non-fiction, and middle-grade and YA books. She grew up in Kansas City, received her BA in Comparative Literature and Art History from Brown University, and is a graduate of the Columbia Publishing Course. She lives in Jersey City.
Michelle Z. Jackson
Michelle Jackson\’s appointments are now full.
Michelle Z. Jackson is a literary agent who represents books that evoke heartfelt emotions and fervent conversations among its readers. Her mission is to mentor and develop authors, particularly those from underrepresented communities, and help them build a brand of quality and authentic reads. Originally from Jamaica, West Indies, she is a literary agent with LCS Literary. She began her agenting career as an intern and then as a Literary Associate with Olswanger Literary. Michelle is also a published author and has earned educational degrees from New York University, SUNY at StonyBrook, Teachers College Columbia University and Argosy University.
Sam Hiyate
Sam Hiyate\’s appointments are now full.
Sam Hiyate worked at the literary magazines Blood & Aphorisms and The Quarterly in the 90\’s. He ran the edgy micropublisher, Gutter Press, from 1993 to 2002, as publisher. He launched the literary division of The Lavin Agency in 2003, where he built a list of clients and did his first deals. Sam’s projects for the agency have been in various categories, including memoir, literary and commercial fiction, narrative non-fiction and graphic novels. He’s looking for works of all categories with distinct and compelling voices. He loves to discover and help new writers prepare their works for the market and to help them build a career with their talent. He is the host of the podcast Agent Provocateur.
Marie Lamba
Marie Lamba\’s appointments are now full.
Marie Lamba is a Senior Literary Agent at the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency in NYC (jdlit.com), where she represents fiction and non-fiction picture books, middle grade, Young Adult and adult works, plus graphic novels and memoir. Marie is also author of the picture books Green Green: A Community Gardening Story (Farrar Straus Giroux), and A Day So Gray (Clarion), and of the young adult novels What I Meant… (Random House), Over My Head, and Drawn. Her articles are in more than 100 publications, and she’s a frequent contributor to Writer’s Digest. She has worked as an editor, an award-winning public relations writer, and a book publicist, and has taught classes on novel writing and on author promotion.
Michaela Whatnall
Michaela Whatnall\’s appointments are now full.
Michaela Whatnall is an agent with Dystel, Goderich & Bourret, where they have worked out of the West Coast office since 2019. They have a degree in English and linguistics from Emory University and completed the Columbia Publishing Course. Michaela represents middle grade and young adult fiction across genres; upmarket adult fiction and fantasy; and select picture books, graphic novels, and narrative nonfiction.
Chad Luibl
Chad Luibl\’s appointments are now full.
Chad Luibl is a literary agent at Janklow & Nesbit Associates. Born and raised in Virginia, he received a BA in English at Lynchburg University before moving to Eastern Europe to teach English for several years. While in Krakow, Poland, he got his MA in European Studies at Jagiellonian University, with a focus in Comparative Literature. He went on to get his MFA in Creative Writing at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he was also the coordinator of the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, an intern in the Literature Department at the National Endowment for the Arts, and an editor at Blackbird and Broad Street literary journals. Chad comes from the workshop model of creative writing and has a hands-on editorial approach to agenting. He is interested in narrative nonfiction with a strong emotional pull from journalists and writers who challenge the status quo. For fiction, he is particularly drawn to novels that are more character or plot-driven, horror and thrillers that are as inventive as they are suspenseful, speculative and historical fiction that offer a nuanced perspective on place, and graphic novels that push the boundaries of the genre.
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