autumn allen, senior editor at barefoot books

REMOTE

Autumn Allen is a senior editor at Barefoot Books, where she acquires, edits, and art-directs picture books and board books. Her debut young adult novel, All You Have to Do, was a Black Caucus of the ALA debut honor award winner and was long listed for the Massachusetts Book Award. ​Her picture books, Step On Board: Sculpting a Memorial to Harriet Tubman, illustrated by Ekua Holmes, and Answered Prayers, illustrated by Charly Palmer, are forthcoming from Knopf.

www.autumnallenbooks.com
instagram: @autumnallenbooks

Winsome Bingham, Acquiring Editor, Reycraft books

IN-PERSON

Winsome Bingham is a soul food connoisseur, teacher by trade and at heart, and a US Army war and disabled veteran. She received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education, with more than fifteen years of teaching experience, as well as an MFA in writing for children and young adults. Her books include the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor book Soul Food Sunday, illustrated by C. G. Esperanza; The Walk (A Stroll to the Poll), illustrated by E. B. Lewis; and Life Is Beautiful, illustrated by Molly Mendoza. You can find her at BinghamWrites.com.

Gaby caballero, Domestic Coordinator at WME

IN-PERSON

Gaby Caballero, originally from Miami, joined the WME Books department in 2021. She's always on the hunt for books that showcase diverse joy; fantastical stories that offer representation for children from marginalized backgrounds, but that center their ability to fall in love and go on amazing adventures. Primarily seeking young adult and graphic novels.

Instagram: @Agent_Caballero

Orlando dos reis, senior editor at scholastic

IN-PERSON

Orlando Dos Reis is an editor at Scholastic Press. He began his career at Abrams Books before moving to Scholastic, where he acquires primarily middle-grade and young adult fiction. He received his B.A. in creative writing from Virginia Tech and his M.A. in English with a concentration in children’s and young adult literature from Kansas State University. He lives in New York City.

ruqayyah duad, senior editor at Hachette Book Group

REMOTE

As a self-described professional fan girl, I love bingeable, gossip-y books. I have been a longtime reader of romance novels both traditionally and independently published. Across genres, I'm drawn to commercial books with a strong hook, emotional core, and vibrant characters. I am a big lover of diverse sweeping fantasies, as well as fantasies rooted in our world. On the contemporary side, I’d love to work with the next Elle Kennedy, Ali Hazelwood, or Lauren Asher. If a book could be on the CW or a reality TV show, it’s probably for me. At LBYR, my list includes the #1 New York Times bestselling Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma; As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh; the upcoming romantasy Bitten by Jordan Stephanie Gray; and Elora Cook’s teen mafia romance, In the Company of Killers.

Jessica Echeverria, Editorial Director at Lee & Low Books

IN-PERSON

Jessica is the editorial director at Lee & Low Books. She spent the first five years of her career working on licensed properties and brands, and developing new paperback series at Simon & Schuster Simon Spotlight and Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. She also oversaw and edited the Spanish-language imprint Libros para niños, where she thoughtfully curated a list of popular backlist titles to be translated into Spanish each season. In 2012, she jumped at the chance to work at Lee & Low Books, where she would fulfill her passion to bring more diverse voices and stories to children’s publishing. A few of the critically acclaimed and award-winning books she has edited include the APALA Picture Book–winner Juna’s Jar; NAACP Image Award–winner Tiny Stitches: The Life of Medical Pioneer Vivien Thomas; the delectable tale Zombies Don’t Eat Veggies, simultaneously published in Spanish and English editions; the Pura Belpré Illustrator Honor award–winner Still Dreaming/ Seguimos Soñando; and Martí’s Song for Freedom/Martí y sus versos por la libertad, which received five starred reviews.

www.leeandlow.com/authors-illustrators/editorial-team/

sian-ashleigh edwards, Agent at Wme(william morris endeavor)

IN-PERSON

Sian-Ashleigh has been at WME since 2018. She hails from the suburbs of New York and goes by her full first name. Representing Nonfiction and Fiction across the YA and adult spaces, her authors are tastemakers, experts, world-builders, and everyday people with something to say. In Nonfiction she’s looking for books that provide new perspectives for the people and places around us, help us master a new skill, or bring us one step closer to a better version of ourselves. In Fiction, she’s looking for anything in the upmarket, commercial, and sci-fi/fantasy spaces that makes her laugh, cry, and/or marvel at the capacity of the written word to move you.

kait Lee feldman, agent at kt literary

REMOTE

Kait Lee Feldmann is a children’s book agent at kt literary representing illustrators. She has been romping around children’s book publishing for the past decade, previously as an editor at HarperCollins and Scholastic. Her list as editor included award-winning books that received a Caldecott, Coretta Scott King, and Sibert Honor; the Ezra Jack Keats Award; and appearances on Best of lists for The New York Times, NPR, Kirkus, and more. In 2020 she received the CBC Diversity Outstanding Achievement Award. Kait resides in a hoarder’s paradise in Los Angeles, surrounded by books.

Website: kaitfeldmann.com
Instagram: @kaitfeldmann

Asia Harden, Assistant Editor at Farrar straus giroux, macmillan children’s publishing group

IN-PERSON

Asia Harden is a Mississippi native and former children’s bookseller. She has worked with award-winning and bestselling authors including George M. Johnson, Leah Johnson, Hafsah Faizal, Libba Bray, and Barbara O'Connor. In 2024, Asia was named one of five Publishers Weekly Star Watch finalists. When not reading or editing, you can find her binge watching reality TV, obsessing over Formula 1, or napping at odd hours. She resides in Brooklyn, NY.

X: @asiacharden

Saritza Hernández, literary agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency

REMOTE

I am a literary agent at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency where I represent authors and illustrators from underrepresented communities in KidLit genre fiction and select non-fiction. I am a geek at heart and a sucker for great storytelling. While I acquire works in Middle Grade through Adult categories, I am most interested in finding more middle grade to round out my list. I have been on the hunt for a middle-grade rom-com forever and am craving more science fiction in this space as well. No body horror, potty humor, or overt religious overtones, please.

www.andreabrownlit.com/Team/saritza-hern%C3%A1ndez
Bluesky: @litagentsaritza.bsky.social

Mabel Hsu, Editorial Director at Stonefruit Studio/Sourcebooks

IN-PERSON

Mabel Hsu is an Editorial Director at Stonefruit Studio/Sourcebooks. She publishes picture books through young adult novels. She focuses on narratives that transform genre tropes, feature intersectional representation, and–most of all–makes reading a pleasure for every type of reader. She's had the honor of publishing award-winning titles such as NIGEL AND THE MOON by Antwan Eady and Gracey Zhang, THE FIRST CAT IN SPACE series by Mac Barnett and Shawn Harris, and FROM THE DESK OF ZOE WASHINGTON by Janae Marks. Mabel is on the Brooklyn Book Festival children’s committee and a mentor through POC in Publishing.

Celina Sun, assistant Editor at penguin random house

IN-PERSON

Celina Sun is an Assistant Editor at Penguin Workshop, where she edits the Who HQ graphic novel line and is growing her list of commercial middle grade and YA in the contemporary realistic and fantasy spaces, as well as picture books and graphic novels that take full advantage of their format. Celina looks to champion joyful, escapist stories by underrepresented voices that capture all the tender and thorny emotions of growing up, falling in love, and navigating evolving relationships with friends, family, and oneself. She’d love to see fresh takes on beloved tropes, irresistible characters, and sparkly, propulsive writing.

https://www.penguin.com/celina-sun-assistant-editor/
Instagram: @_celinasun_

Weslie Turner, senior editor at Versify, harpercollins

REMOTE

Weslie edits children's books for all ages, including New York Times bestseller Ibi Zoboi’s (S)Kin; Sam Teer, Mar Julia, and Ashanti Fortson's Printz Award winner Brownstone; and three-time Pura Belpré Award winners Raúl the Third and Elaine Bay's ¡Vamos! Let's Celebrate Halloween and Día de los Muertos. She is most interested in well-written YA and middle-grade fiction with diverse characters, as well as those with original fantasy and/or science fiction elements. Weslie grew up reading the Addy series (from The American Girl Collection); The Hobbit; and The Dark Is Rising. Today, favorite authors include Toni Morrison, Octavia Butler, and L.L. McKinney.

linkedin.com/in/weslieturner
Bluesky: @weslieturner.bsky.social

irene Vázquez, Assistant Editor and Publicist at Levine Querido

IN-PERSON

Born in New Orleans, raised in Houston, & now living in Manhattan, Irene Vázquez is a queer Black Mexican American editor, poet, translator, and journalist. At Levine Querido, they serve as associate editor and publicist. Their first acquisition, The Free People's Village is a national bestseller. Irene read the Percy Jackson series out of order in elementary school by accident and has been passionate about children’s books ever since.

www.irenevazquez.com
Twitter: @capaciousmood
Instagram: @irene.rene.ren

PHOEBE YEH, VICE PRESIDENT AND EDITOR AT LARGE, CROWN BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS/RANDOM HOUSE CHILDREN’S BOOKS

IN-PERSON

Phoebe Yeh is a Vice President and Editor-at-Large at Crown Books for Young Readers/Random House Children’s Books. She edited Monster the first Printz winner and three National Book Finalists, all by Walter Dean Myers. She has edited the Magic School Bus series, Big Nate and The School for Good & Evil. She has published the New York Times bestsellers, Max & the Midknights and Dear Martin. These authors published children’s debuts with her: Kwame Alexander, Kelly J. Baptist, Mahogany L. Browne, Frances Cha, Soman Chainani, Lamar Giles, Jamie Jo Hoang, Traci Huahn, Wade Hudson, Ellen Oh, Patricia Park, Lincoln Peirce, Kelis Rowe, Nic Stone and George Takei, author of My Lost Freedom: A Japanese American World War II Story.

She has published anthologies on themes of social justice with Cheryl Willis Hudson and Wade Hudson of Just Us Books and short story anthologies with We Need Diverse Books.

Yeh is a recipient of the inaugural CBC Diversity Outstanding Achievement Award.