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INTERVIEW OBSERVATIONS "Any first time author can be made to look "fabulous" -- it's all about how an agent, author and publisher present the author. Every author has a background and a story, which can be told to the book- sellers and public in a boring way or a way that is spectacular."   Barbara Zitwer "If an author is a terrific writer and has a voice or perspective or style that's not been seen before, there is a far greater chance it will have a place in the literary market. Though it's true that it can be tough to get a first book published, agents and editors are always looking for the next voice or story."   Elise Capron "Whatever you're doing in this business, whether you're an agent, editor, or writer, it's crucially important to keep on top of what's happening in the industry. Agents and editors are much more likely to take writers seriously if they can name other writers in their genre whose work they admire ..."   W. Gottlieb "The truth is that most publishing professionals needn't read further than that ... Judging a book in five sentences might sound like an outrageous idea. But it's really not."   Noah Lukeman

Robert Bausch has taught literature and creative writing at George Mason University, The University of Virginia, and The American University. He is the author of six novels, including ON THE WAY HOME, THE LIVES OF RILEY CHANCE, A HOLE IN THE EARTH, THE GYPSY MAN (winner of the 2003 DLB Award for Distinguished Fiction). His collection of short stories, THE WHITE ROOSTER AND OTHER STORIES won the DLB Award for Distinguished Short Fiction in 1995.

Eve Bridburg is Boston's foremost creative writing guru, now a literary agent at Zachary Shuster Harmsworth agency and actively seeking new works of literary fiction, memoir, biography and creative nonfiction. Recent fiction sales by ZSH and Eve include include Jon Keller's THE BLUEST STATE, BREAD AND DREAMS by Jonatha Ceely (Bantam), CI an army counterintelligence series by David DeBatto and Pete Nelson (Warner), CRABS IN A BARREL by Byron Harmon (Agate Publishing), DYING LIGHT AND OTHER STORIES by Donald Hays (McAdam/Cage), HOUSE OF MANY GODS by Kiana Davenport (Ballantine), MY LIFE ON MARS by Alicia Metcalf Miller (Plume), and THE WINTER CHAMBER by Alisa Libby (Dutton Children's Books). Eve is also the founder of Grub Street Writers, Boston's only independent writing center.

Elise Capron is an agent for the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency--widely regarded as the best on the west coast. Their authors include Amy Tan, Kate White, Janell Cannon, and many more. Elise is list-building and looking for new manuscripts. She is Sandra's assistant and specializes in literary and women's fiction.

Susanne's short fiction has been published in numerous journals, including American Short Fiction, Notre Dame Review, descant, Feminist Studies, Carve and others. Her short stories have won honors and distinctions including second place American Short Fiction Prize, finalist Reynolds Price Short Fiction Award, short-listed for Carver Award and distinguished story in Best American Short Stories series. Her first novel, LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP, won the Hemingway First Novel Award and her second novel, GRAVITY HILL, is currently under consideration for publication. She teaches creative writing at the University of Connecticut and directs the Study Abroad writing program in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Award winning author Elizabeth Evans has published three novels with HarperCollins:SUICIDE'S GIRLFRIEND, ROWING IN EDEN, and CARTER CLAY, which was selected by The Los Angeles Times for "The Best Books of 1999." Other works include THE BLUE HOUR (Algonquin) and the story collection LOCOMOTION (New Rivers). Her awards include an NEA Fellowship and a James Michener Fellowship.

Kate Gale is 2005-2006 President of PEN USA and president of American Composers Forum. She is the founder of Red Hen Press, The Los Angeles Review, the Ruskin Art Club Poetry Series, the Geffen reading series, and the Writers in The Schools program for underserved communities. Her RIO DE SANGRE, an opera with Don Davis, was performed in part at Disney Hall November of 2005 and her opera PARADISES LOST was performed in part at the New York City Opera in May of 2006. She holds a Ph.D in literature from Claremont Graduate University.

Deborah Grosvenor has worked in the book publishing industry for over twenty years, as an agent, an editor, and selling foreign and subsidiary rights. As an editor, her best-known acquisition was a first work of fiction, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER by Tom Clancy, when she was director of book acquisitions and subsidiary rights at the Naval Institute Press. Deborah also signed up best-selling author Homer Hickham's first work, TORPEDO JUNCTION, and helped launch best-selling author Stephen Coonts's first novel, FLIGHT OF THE INTRUDER. The Grosvenor Literary Agency was formed in 1996, and has a stable of about three dozen authors. It handles commercial and literary fiction and nonfiction.

Donna Levin has published two novels with major New York houses, and has also published two books about writing, GET THAT NOVEL STARTED and GET THAT NOVEL WRITTEN. She has taught fiction writing for ten years at University of California and hosts the Literary Luncheon series at "A Clean Well-Lighted Place for Books" in San Francisco.

Elizabeth Pomada, together with Michael Larsen, founded the first literary agency in San Francisco in 1972, and since that time have helped hundreds of authors to successful publication of their books. Recent manuscripts represented and sold to Pantheon, Warner, Berkley, and Tor.

Michael Neff is Editor-in-Chief of DEL SOL REVIEW, the founder and director of WEBDELSOL.COM (#10 in the Writer's Digest Fiction Top 50 and the largest publisher of periodical contemporary literature in the U.S.) and the founder and chief editor of ALGONKIAN WORKSHOPS. He is publisher of several national literary magazines at WEBDELSOL including IN POSSE REVIEW, DIAGRAM, LA PETITE ZINE, 5_TROPE, and DEL SOL REVIEW. His own work has appeared in THE LITERARY REVIEW, NORTH AMERICAN REVIEW, MUDLARK, QUARTERLY WEST, PITTSBURGH QUARTERLY, CONJUNCTIONS, AND AMERICAN WAY MAGAZINE. In 2001, he served as the Writer's Digest Finalist Fiction Judge.

Peter is the President of Peter Rubie Literary Agency. Prior to becoming an agent, he was a book doctor for such publishers as Doubleday, Simon & Schuster, Random House and others, the fiction editor for Walker & Co., a reviewer for Publishers Weekly, a broadcast journalist (BBC Radio News; ITN News), and a print journalist (Fleet Street, London). He represents narrative non-fiction, crime novels, thrillers, science fiction/fantasy, as well as literary novels and children's fiction. Peter has written two novels himself, and his nonfiction book, THE ELEMENTS OF STORYTELLING is known for being one of the best in the business. Novels currently represented by his agency include THE LAND OF ELYON, by Patrick Carman (Scholastic); THE THIEF AND THE BEANSTALK, by Paul Catanese (Simon&Schuster); ESCAPE CLAUSE, by James Born (Putnam); TOWARD RATIONAL EXHUBERANCE, by B. Mark Smith (Farrar, Straus); and THE GLASS HARMONICA, by Louise Marley (Ace).

After graduating from Syracuse University with a degree in English, Charles broke into the world of magazine writing: NEW YORK MAGAZINE, ESQUIRE, NEW YORK, GQ, and a variety of others. This experience eventually led to books, the most recent ghostwritten book making the NYT bestseller list. Charles has been a Visiting Professor of writing at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and currently teaches at Sarah Lawrence, The New York Writers Workshop, and the Writer's Voice. His clients for editorial work include such publishers and literary agencies as Viking/Penguin, Dell, Simon and Schuster, Henry Holt, St. Martin's, M. Evans, Trident Media Group, Peter Rubie Agency, Graybill & English, and the Spieler Agency, among others.

A member of the prestigious Castiglia Literary Agency, Sally van Haitsma is actively looking for proposals and her fiction list covers literary and women's fiction, and SF/F as well. Her recent sales include SILVERSTEIN & ME by Marv Gold (Red Hen Press), WESLEY THE OWL by Stacey O'Brien (Free Press/Simon & Schuster), and THE LEISURE SEEKER by Michael Zadoorian (HarperCollins).

Tina is actively list building at ICM. Her tastes are eclectic--most types of fiction, nonfiction, and even YA. Recent sales include the first two books in Susan Runholt's mystery series, THE MYSTERY OF THE THIRD LUCRETIA and RESCUING SENECA CRANE (Viking), and commercial fiction sales including Donna Gephart's AS IF BEING 12 ¾ ISN'T BAD ENOUGH (Delacorte), Robin Friedman's THE GIRLFRIEND PROJECT (Walker), Sanjay Patel's THE LITTLE BOOK OF HINDU DEITIES (Plume), and many more. Prior to joining ICM over three years ago she worked at the Ellen Levine Literary Agency, Trident Media, and the Karpfinger Agency. She earned an MFA before becoming an agent.

Paige Wheeler is the past President of Creative Media Agency and a current partner with Jeff Kleinman in Folio Literary Agency. She is actively seeking new manuscripts for commercial, literary, thriller/mystery, SF, YA, and other genres. An interview with Paige can be [found here]

Howard Yoon is the Vice President and Editorial Director of the Gail Ross Literary Agency. He also handles foreign rights for the agency. Yoon specializes in editing and developing book ideas with clients. He has more than 14 years of experience as a literary agent, editor, and writer. A list of GRLA literary projects can be found here.