New England SCBWI
Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators

Jordan Brown is an Associate Editor with Atheneum Books for Young Readers, a part of Simon & Schuster’s children’s publishing division, where he has been since 2003. Over that time, Jordan has been lucky enough to work with many esteemed authors and illustrators, including E.L. Konigsburg, Patricia MacLachlan, Chris Lynch, Donna Jo Napoli, Jon Scieszka, D. James Smith, Candace Fleming, David Gordon, Loren Long, and Marjorie Priceman. One of Jordan’s first acquisitions, M. Sindy Felin’s Touching Snow, was recently named a 2007 National Book Award finalist in the Young People’s Literature category.

Stacy Cantor is an Associate Editor at Walker Books. She has previously worked at Bloomsbury Children’s Books and for a book packager in Chicago, Illinois. Stacy’s interests lie primarily in literary, contemporary YA fiction and vibrant read-aloud picture books. Her favorite projects have been the novels First Kiss (Then Tell), edited by Cylin Busby; Teen, Inc. by Stefan Petrucha; and The Ultimate Teen Book Guide. Forthcoming projects include novels Undone by Brooke Taylor, Abigail Iris: One of Many by Lisa Glatt and Suzanne Greenberg, and a picture book called Sophie and the Next Door Monsters by Chris Case. Stacy spent a summer as an intern at Viking, honing her skills by reading the slush pile.

Sarah Cloots, an Assistant Editor at Greenwillow, is a native of Houston who began her professional editing career at the Columbia Publishing Course. She went on to intern at Bloomsbury Books and was then brought on board as an editorial assistant at Greenwillow Books, where she has worked for three and a half years. At Greenwillow, she has had the opportunity to work with writers and artists at different stages of their careers: well-known award-winners; prolific authors and illustrators who aren’t quite household names but undoubtedly deserve to be; and first-timers whose debuts she is excited and proud to be part of. While Sarah enjoys working with contributors in each of these categories, as a junior editor she is especially thrilled to discover new talent.

Nancy Conescu, an Editor at Little, Brown, is looking for literary and commercial midgrade fiction, edgy YA fiction, inventive and non-traditional picture books, and projects testing creative boundaries. She is intrigued by dark humor, satire, and character-driven narratives. She has worked with Stephenie Meyer, Holly Hobbie, Julie Anne Peters, Todd Parr, Mary Ann Hoberman, and Trenton Lee Stewart. Her recent acquisitions are School of Fear by Gitty Daneshvari and The Prophecy of the Sisters trilogy by Michelle Zink. Upcoming titles include Ghostgirl by Tonya Hurley and Ignatius MacFarland: Frequenaut! by Paul Feig. Her recently published titles are the Vampirates books by Justin Somper, This is What I Did: by Ann Dee Ellis, Chloe Doe by Suzanne Phillips, and New Socks by Bob Shea.

Nick Eliopulos is an Associate Editor at Random House Books. He’s been working in children’s publishing for nearly four years, after starting his career as an acquisitions assistant at the University Press of Florida. He is the editor of the picture book Squirrelly Gray, the middle-grade novel The Hound of Rowan, and a forthcoming graphic-novel series called The Sons of Liberty. He also creates comics in his spare time, and has had short pieces published in the anthologies Stuck in the Middle and First Kiss (Then Tell). While he’s open to submissions for any age range or format, Nick is primarily interested in middle-grade fiction with boy appeal.

* Victoria Jamieson is a designer for Greenwillow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. She designs YA, middle grade, and picture book jackets and interiors, and is always on the lookout for new illustrators. Additionally, she works as a children’s book illustrator herself. Her first book as author-illustrator will be published by Bloomsbury in 2009. You can see her work on her illustration blog.

Yolanda LeRoy is the Editorial Director at Charlesbridge. She has worked with David McPhail, Linda Sue Park, Eve Bunting, Kathryn Lasky, Tony Johnston, Caroline Arnold, Iza Trapani, and Jerry Pallotta, among others. She began her career in publishing at Charlesbridge and has also worked as an editor at Candlewick Press. She is a former executive board member of the Foundation for Children's Books, a Boston-based nonprofit organization for children's literacy, and is the founder of Pubs in Pubs, a social and networking organization for children's publishing professionals. Yolanda studied Russian language and literature at Harvard College, and she enjoys performing as a singer and actor in the Boston area.

Catherine Onder, an Editor at HarperCollins spends quality time working on all things Narnia, she also develops picture books, chapter books, middle grade fiction and young adult novels. Whether funny and light or dark and mysterious, traditional or edgy, she looks for strong narrative and voice, and a clear vision in all manuscripts. Authors and artists she has worked with include Matthew S. Armstrong, Karen Barbour, Ann Cannon, Alex Flinn, Katherine Langrish, Geraldine McCaughrean, Jeremy Strong, and Terry Trueman.

Rachel Orr joined the Prospect Agency in 2007, after editing children's books for HarperCollins. She enjoys the challenge of a wide variety of projects, including picture books, beginning readers, chapter books, middle-grade/YA novels, and works of non-fiction. Rachel particularly loves strong character-driven stories (particularly first person), fresh coming-of-age stories, humorous stories, sports stories, and stories focusing on multicultural issues. Rachel has represented both authors and illustrators, including Sudipta Barnhan-Quallen, A.C.E. Bauer, Jake Bell, Cori Doerrfeld and Chris Giarrusso. She has written a biography about Abigail Adams for the Time For Kids biography series (HarperCollins, 2009).

Jennifer Rees, an Editor at Scholastic Press, earned her BA at Allegheny College and her MA at Miami University of Ohio before moving to New York City. Jennifer has had the pleasure of editing such luminous talent as Sara Varon (Chicken and Cat), Rachel Vail (Sometimes I’m Bombaloo), David Kirk (Miss Spider), Suzanne Collins (The Underland Chronicles), Jordan Sonnenblick (Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie), Brandon Sanderson (Alcatraz Smedry Versus the Evil Librarians), Michael Morpurgo (Private Peaceful), and the McKissacks (Days of Jubilee). She likes variety in her role as Editor at Scholastic Press and acquires fiction and non-fiction picture books, middle-grade novels, and YA.

* Susan Sherman is the Art Director of Children’s Trade Books at Charlesbridge Publishing. She received her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1974, and began designing children’s books in 1977. Susan has been art director at Houghton Mifflin and creative director at Little Brown. She has also run her own graphic design business, Ars Agassiz. Susan has worked with Felicia Bond, Jane Dyer, Barry Moser, Ed Young, and Allen Say, among others.

Sarah Shumway is an Editor at Dutton Children’s Books, a hardcover trade imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group. Sarah’s list includes both fiction and non-fiction for the full range of ages, but she is most interested in contemporary, humorous young adult and upper-middle grade fiction, the occasional historical or inspirational fiction, and her favorite picture book manuscripts are always character-driven.

Hilary Breed Van Dusen, a Senior Editor at Candlewick Press, concentrates on middle grade and young adult fiction as well as nonfiction for the same age groups. She works with many authors including Robie Harris, Paul Janeczco, Nicola Morgan, Laura Kvasnosky, Sally Walker, Kathryn Lasky, Dyan Sheldon, and Pat Lowery Collins. She was previously an editor of children's books at Little, Brown and Company, and editor of professional development books for teachers at Heinemann. She has edited elementary science curriculum materials for Steck-Vaughn, served as the assistant director of The National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance, and reviewed books for the Horn Book Magazine and Guide.

Anna Webman has been an Agent at Curtis Brown, Ltd. for over two years. In working with Elizabeth Harding at Curtis Brown she has worked with a wide range of young adult, middle-grade, and picture book authors and illustrator, including Gennifer Choldenko, Caroline B. Cooney, Jane Yolen, Jane Dyer, Gordon Korman, Patricia McKissack, and S.E. Hinton. She likes inventive picture books, particularly those featuring strong or unusual characters. In fiction, she tends to go for more realistic mid-grade and YA plotlines rather than science fiction or fantasy. She likes unique voices with something to say, and her ideal book would be one that has both a driving narrative and beautiful language.

Christy Webster, an Assistant Editor, has been at Random House since April 2005. There she works on a variety of formats from baby to young adult, both trade and licensed. This includes both the Step into Reading and Stepping Stones product lines. Before graduating from NYU, she had editorial internships at Dial Books for Young Readers and Aladdin/Simon Pulse. Christy is originally from Maine.

Noa Wheeler is an Assistant Editor at Henry Holt. She has worked with award-winning authors and illustrators such as Bryan Collier, Denise Fleming, Peter McCarty, and Lloyd Alexander. She has recently worked on Fabian Escapes, the follow-up to the Caldecott Honor-winning Hondo & Fabian; The Curious Adventures of the Abandoned Toys; and Accidents of Nature. She edits books for all ages and in all formats except original board book.

Jennifer Yoon is an Associate Editor at Candlewick Press. She is mainly interested in young adult fiction, though she acquires across genres. She is currently building her list by working with many talented first-time authors.