Meet The Faculty Members Who Make Everything Possible

We’ve curated a network of faculty that are world class in their fields across the publishing industry. We provide direct access to these professionals who give you the critique, time and care you deserve.

Meet The Faculty

We offer world-class publishing instruction that can be enjoyed from the comfort of your home or your favorite coffeeshop.

Unlike traditional conferences, you simply need a computer, a tablet, or even your smartphone to log in and enjoy the very best instruction from some of the top minds in the literary community. Every online Manuscript Academy conference will give you the full educational and networking value of a traditional writing conference, but without the hassle of travel, paying for meals out, or arranging childcare.

Marilyn R. Atlas

Marilyn R. Atlas is a literary manager and award-winning producer. Among her credits as film producer are “Real Women Have Curves” for HBO, which won the Audience Award at the Sundance; “A Certain Desire,” starring Sam Waterston; and “Echoes,” which won the Gold Award at the Texas International Film Festival.
Laura Barbiea

Laura Barbiea is a social media manager at Alloy Entertainment, a publishing arm of Warner Brothers Entertainment. Talking about Young Adult books “on the interwebs” is her specialty. In addition to her experience at Alloy, Laura is a creative entrepreneur (actor/producer/extraordinaire!), who has experience building a brand on a personal level.
Regina Brooks

Regina Brooks is the founder and president of Serendipity Literary Agency LLC, based in Brooklyn, New York. Her agency has represented and established a diverse base of award-winning clients in adult and young adult fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature. Writer’s Digest magazine named Serendipity Literary Agency as one of the top 25 literary agencies in 2004.
Kat Brzozowski

Kat Brzozowski is an Editor at Swoon Reads/Feiwel & Friends. She acquires YA for Feiwel & Friends and edits crowdsourced YA manuscripts for Swoon Reads. She has worked on a wide range of young adult fiction, including new Fear Street books in R.L. Stine’s best‐selling series, which has sold over eighty million copies worldwide.
Linda Camacho

Linda Camacho joined Prospect Agency in 2015 after a decade in publishing. After graduating from Cornell University, Linda interned at Simon & Schuster and Writers House literary agency, and worked at Penguin and Random House before making the leap to agenting. She has an MFA in creative writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and has broad reading tastes.
Leila Campoli

Leila Campoli is an agent at Stonesong. represents prescriptive and narrative nonfiction projects in business, science, technology, history, current events, and self-improvement. Her ideal author has a strong platform, groundbreaking ideas, and unique style. She’s particularly interested in books that offer a window into remarkable lives and little known operations.
Alicia Clancy

Alicia Clancy is an Assistant Editor at St. Martin’s Press, where she works on a range of projects from young adult fiction to women’s fiction to photo books about raccoons! She graduated from the University of Tennessee with a degree in English Literature, and moved immediately to NYC to pursue a career in publishing.
Jalissa Corrie

Jalissa Corrie is a Marketing & Publicity Assistant at Lee & Low Books. A former editorial intern at Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency, Jalissa loves to edit, critique, and talk all things publishing as well as write YA science fiction. When she isn’t reading or writing, you can find her at writing workshops and publishing events across NYC.
Jaime Coyne

Jaime Coyne, Assistant Editor, St. Martin’s Press. Jaime began her career in Marketing at Macmillan in 2012. After two and a half years, she transitioned to her dream job in the Editorial department of St. Martin’s Press. Jaime is interested in a wide range of fiction and narrative nonfiction, both adult and YA. While she is looking for both literary and upmarket fiction, she is not the best fit for hard genre fiction.
John M. Cusick

John M. Cusick is an agent with Folio Jr. / Folio Literary Management, representing picture books, middle-grade, and young adult novels. He is also the author of GIRL PARTS and CHERRY MONEY BABY (Candlewick Press), as well as a regular speaker at writers conferences. John is doing query and partial manuscript critiques. Members can schedule one with him here.
Melissa Edwards

Melissa Edwards joined Stonesong as a literary agent in August 2016. Previously, she was a literary agent at the Aaron Priest Literary Agency, where she managed the foreign rights for a 40-year backlist. After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis and Vanderbilt Law School, Melissa began her career as a litigation attorney before transitioning into publishing.
Julie Falatko

Julie Falatko writes about misunderstood characters trying to find their place in the world. She is the author of Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in This Book), illustrated by Tim Miller (Viking, 2016); the upcoming Snappsy the Alligator and his Best Friend Forever (Probably) (Viking, 2017); The Society of Underrepresented Animals, illustrated by Charles Santoso (Viking, 2018).
Erica Finkel

Erica Finkel, Abrams Books, hails from Maryland and studied English Literature at Tufts University in Boston. After graduation, she taught English in a teeny town in France, then returned to Boston to earn an MA in Publishing and Writing from Emerson College. She moved to New York to take a job at Abrams Books in 2010 and has been there ever since.
Ali Fisher

Ali Fisher is an editor in the children’s and young adult division of Tor/Forge Books. She’s been with Tor since September 2013. In the two years preceding her move to Tor, Ali marketed Macmillan’s adult trade list to librarians. Ali spent her formative years traveling from Seattle to Sevenwaters to Middle-earth and back. Her current literary expeditions depart from Brooklyn.
Caitie Flum

Caitie Flum joined Liza Dawson Associates in July 2014 as assistant and audio rights manager, as well as taking on her own clients. She graduated from Hofstra University in 2009 with a BA in English with a concentration in publishing studies. She interned at Hachette Book Group and Writers House. She was an Editorial Assistant then Coordinator for Bookspan.
Stephanie Fretwell-Hill

Stephanie Fretwell-Hill started her publishing career in 2004 at Walker Books Ltd. in London, where she sold foreign language rights. Working in a design-led company with legendary artists such as Helen Oxenbury and Lucy Cousins sparked her love of illustration, while her sales role gave her an international perspective on children’s publishing.
Jilly Gagnon

Jilly Gagnon is currently based in Chicago, but is originally from Minnesota, a fact she’ll likely inform you of within minutes of meeting you. In the past, Jilly has written humor, news, essays, and op-ed pieces for Newsweek, Elle, Vanity Fair, The Huffington Post, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, The Onion, The Toast, and Boston’s alt-weekly, The Dig, among others. She writes both comedy and young adult fiction.
Monica Odom

Monica Odom joined is an agent at Liza Dawson Associates, and became an associate agent there in 2013. Monica earned her Masters in Publishing: Digital & Print Media from New York University in 2014, and has a B.A. in English from Montclair State University.
Julie True Kingsley

Julie True Kingsley is the co-founder of The Manuscript Academy. She has over twenty years of experience in education teaching everything from preschool to grad school. She currently teaches New Media & Writing for Media at a small local college. She is the co- founder and SCBWI’s Writing Retreat on Squam, and a past facilitator of SCBWI’s fabulous Whispering Pines Retreat.
Elizabeth Ross Holmstrom

Elizabeth Ross Holmstrom is the founder of BreakTogether. Elizabeth has twenty years of experience designing and implementing health and wellness programs for local, large and national employers. She was most recently VP, Health and Wellness at TD Bank, leading employee health and engagement improvement strategies in the US.
Lane Heymont

Lane Heymont has been a lover of literature since childhood, and at the prodding of his mentor Nicole Resciniti, he decided to pursue his passion as a literary agent. He went on to help found The Tobias Literary Agency. He strives to bring incredible and thought-provoking books to the masses, culminating in reaching the Top Ten on Publishers Marketplace for agents in the romance genre.
Hannah Haney

Hannah Haney is a contributor to Writer’s Digest Online and the Managing Editor for Relief Journal. She has been published with Writer’s Digest and The Cincinnati Enquirer. She is passionate about the power of literature and writing and the way they can communicate truth about the human condition.
Erik Hane

Erik Hane is an agent at Red Sofa Literary, as well as a freelance editor and writer based in Minneapolis. Since graduating from Knox College and the Denver Publishing Institute in 2012, he has worked as an assistant editor at Oxford University Press and then as an acquiring editor at The Overlook Press.
Stacey Graham

Jilly Gagnon is currently based in Chicago, but is originally from Minnesota, a fact she’ll likely inform you of within minutes of meeting you. In the past, Jilly has written humor, news, essays, and op-ed pieces for Newsweek, Elle, Vanity Fair, The Huffington Post, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, The Onion, The Toast, and Boston’s alt-weekly, The Dig, among others.
Saba Sulaiman

Saba Sulaiman is an agent at Talcott Notch Literary Services, a boutique agency located in Milford, CT. She holds a BA from Wellesley College and an MA from the University of Chicago, where she studied modern Persian literature. She is looking primarily to build her Middle Grade and Young Adult lists, and is particularly interested in contemporary realistic stories.
Cameron Kelly Rosenblum

Cameron Kelly Rosenblum loves words, both reading and writing them. After studying literature at Kenyon College she earned her M.Ed. and has worked with young readers ever since. She resides in southern Maine, where she is a K-4 librarian and book club leader for ‘tweens and teens.
Quressa Robinson

Quressa Robinson is an Associate Agent with D4EO Literary agency actively building her client list. Formerly she was an acquiring editor for St. Martin’s Press, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers where she edited both fiction and nonfiction. Her acquisitions include CERTAIN DARK THINGS (a Publishers Weekly Fall Announcement Top 10 Pick and October B&N Staff Pick).
Adriann Ranta Zurhellen

Adriann Ranta Zurhellen is an agent at Foundry Literary + Media. She represents New York Times bestselling and award-winning authors, journalists, illustrators, and graphic novelists, as well as cultural commentators, stuntwomen, makeup artists, and many other pioneering creative thinkers and leaders in their fields.
Norma Perez-Hernandez

Norma Perez-Hernandez is an acquiring editorial assistant at Kensington Publishing Corp. She has worked on a variety of projects, including fiction, romance, mysteries, thrillers, and non-fiction. A New York City native, Norma studied English literature at the Macaulay Honors College at The City College of New York and is a graduate of the Publishing Certificate Program at City College.
Hazel Mitchell

Hazel Mitchell has always loved drawing and still cannot be reliably left alone with a pencil. She has illustrated several books for children including Imani’s Moon, One Word Pearl, Animally and Where Do Fairies Go When It Snows? ‘Toby’ is her author-illustrator debut from Candlewick Press.
Amanda Shih

Amanda Shih is an Assistant Editor at TarcherPerigee, where she publishes nonfiction ranging from illustrated and gift books to practical lifestyle and self-help titles. Prior to TarcherPerigee, she worked briefly with Folio Literary Agency, Dutton Books, and Grove Atlantic, among others. Find her on Twitter at @amandashih, where she sometimes remembers to tweet about publishing.
Saba Sulaiman

Saba Sulaiman is an agent at Talcott Notch Literary Services, a boutique agency located in Milford, CT. She holds a BA from Wellesley College and an MA from the University of Chicago, where she studied modern Persian literature. She is looking primarily to build her Middle Grade and Young Adult lists, and is particularly interested in contemporary realistic stories.
Alyssa Jennette

Alyssa Jennette joined Stonesong Literary in June 2015 after interning at Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency. She graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art with a BFA in Illustration. As a result, she has unique insight and expertise when it comes to design-heavy or illustrated works.
Katharine Sands

Katharine Sands is a literary agent with the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency, Katharine Sands has worked with a varied list of authors who publish a diverse array of books. She is the agent provocateur of Making the Perfect Pitch: How to Catch a Literary Agent’s Eye, a collection of pitching wisdom from leading literary agents. Recently contributed “Grey is the New Black” to Fifty Writers on Fifty Shades of Grey.
Dr. Uwe Stender

Literary Agent Dr. Uwe Stender is a Full Member of the AAR (Association of Authors’ Representatives). He is interested in all kinds of commercial fiction, especially Young Adult, Middle Grade, Mysteries, and Women’s Fiction. He is also interested in all kinds of non-fiction projects. But surprise him, his tastes are eclectic, and he may just love what you wrote!
Erin Wicks

Erin Wicks is an associate editor acquiring narrative fiction, nonfiction, and memoir for the Harper and Harper Perennial lists at HarperCollins Publishers. Her current authors include Sarah Gerard (Binary Star), Karen Rinaldi (The End of Men), Ami McKay (The Witches of New York), Rachel B. Glaser (Paulina & Fran), and the estate of Eleanor Clark.
Roseanne Wells

Roseanne Wells joined The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency as an associate agent in 2012. Previously with the Marianne Strong Literary Agency, she has also worked as a proofreader and a special sales/editorial assistant. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with degrees in Literature and Dance.
Stephanie Stein

Stephanie Stein is an Editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books, where she has worked with a range of authors including Kiera Cass (The Selection), Erin Hunter (Warriors), Cynthia Hand (The Last Time We Say Goodbye), Marissa Burt (A Sliver of Stardust), and Anna Priemaza (Kat and Meg Conquer the World).
Jessica Sinsheimer

Jessica Sinsheimer has been reading and campaigning for her favorite queries since 2004. Now an Associate Agent at the Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency, she’s known for #MSWL, ManuscriptWistList.com, #PubTalkTV—and for drinking far too much tea.
Samantha Wekstein

Samantha is an agent at Thompson Literary, after spending six years at Writers House. She graduated from the University of Maryland in 2012 with a B.A. in English with a concentration in creative writing. She interned at Rowman & Littlefield and Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency before landing at Writers House in 2013 with an internship. There, she was the assistant to CEO, Amy Berkower and then to founder, Al Zuckerman. She also briefly worked as an assistant at The Agency Group. She has been lucky enough to work with a variety of best-selling and award-winning authors across all genres. She is now in the process of actively building her client list.
Laura Zats

Laura Zats is an agent at Red Sofa Literary, where she represents middle grade and young adult fiction, as well as adult science fiction, fantasy, romance, and erotica. Originally coming to publishing through editorial, she has worked with traditional and indie authors across the globe. Laura is one half of the podcast Print Run, which every week seeks to reveal a never-before-seen side to publishing.
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