$190 per ticket (plus Eventbrite Booking fee) Includes Online Access to Festival SALES FOR MANUSCRIPT CONSULTS ARE NOW CLOSED |
Anna Blackie, Pantera Press
(Adult Lit) Anna is an editor at Pantera Press. She began her career at independent publisher For Pity Sake. She joined Pantera Press in 2017 and is an important part of the Pantera Press submissions and editorial team. Anna is the author of How to Adult, a non-fiction guide to adulthood. Area of interest: Anna is looking for commercial adult fiction, particularly women's fiction or crime. |
Tessa Feggans, Allen & Unwin
(Adult Lit) Tessa Fegans is a commissioning editor at Allen & Unwin Book Publishers. She has previously worked at literary agency Curtis Brown in London as well as the Sydney Writers’ Festival. She is actively acquiring commercial non-fiction – particularly memoir and narrative non-fiction – that connects us with voices and stories from all walks of life, explores compelling contemporary issues, or expands a readers’ horizons. She loves commercial, book club and cross-over literary fiction with strong authorial voices and complicated relationships. One of her favourite parts of the job is working with authors editorially, so she’s very keen to help writers shape and polish their manuscripts. Area of interest: Tessa is looking for commercial non-fiction – particularly memoir and narrative non-fiction as well as commercial, book club and cross-over literary fiction with strong authorial voices and complicated relationships |
Clare Hallifax, Scholastic Australia
(Children/YA) Clare Hallifax has worked in publishing since 1990. Beginning her career as a political journalist, Clare went back to her first love, literature. Over the years she has edited and published books for both adults and children - ranging from political biographies, student text books, business books to narrative non-fiction, to literary and mass market fiction and picture books. As publishing manager at Scholastic Australia, she is both publisher of Omnibus Books, and manager of Scholastic’s digital publishing program. For the past decade, Clare has worked with some of the esteemed names of Australian children’s publishing including Mem Fox, Julie Vivas, Judy Horacek, Libby Gleeson, Kerry Argent, Emily Rodda, Michael Gerard Bauer, Philip Bunting, Richard Yaxley, Tamsin Janu and a long list of authors and illustrators that continually inspire her. Whether from established writers, or new voices, the excitement of discovering new stories never gets old. Area of interest: Clare is looking for picture books, chapter books, middle grade, and young adult manuscripts. |
Mary Verney, Penguin Random House
(Children/YA) Mary Verney has been working in publishing for almost eighteen years. She left her job as a bookseller in Queensland to move to Sydney and work with Pan Macmillan and then Walker Books. Mary is currently a Senior Editor in the Young Readers team at Penguin Random House, working with authors including Belinda Murrell, George Ivanoff, Renée Treml and A.L. Tait. Area of interest: Mary is looking for stories featuring engaging voices, fabulous world building and characters she can champion. Junior fiction, middle grades and YA standalone stories are of particular interest. She is not looking fo picture book texts at this time. |
Anna Valdinger, HarperCollins Australia
(Adult Lit) Anna started her publishing career editing for a literary agency in London, before moving to Pan Macmillan where she worked with a range of authors including Kate Morton, Minette Walters and David Baldacci. She moved to Australia in search of some sunshine and worked at Pan Macmillan in Sydney before joining HarperCollins in 2009 to take responsibility for developing the commercial fiction list. Her authors include Dervla McTiernan, Karin Slaughter, Nicola Moriarty, Tara Moss and Belinda Alexandra. Area of interest: Anna is looking for strong commercial fiction across most genres, particularly crime and thrillers, family dramas, contemporary women’s and historical fiction. |