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Find Out What's Happening in
Children's Nonfiction Publishing
During 3 Powerful Panels!
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Friday at 7:30 PM, presented by:
 Betsy
Bird
Betsy Bird is the Youth Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. In this capacity, Ms. Bird purchases most
of the children's nonfiction materials for the boroughs of Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Her children's literature blog, A Fuse #8 Production (http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production)
is hosted by School Library Journal. The blog features reviews of children's books (including nonfiction) as well as reporting on upcoming books in a given season and pertinent conversation topics on questions in the field of children's informational titles.
In addition to reviewing for Kirkus and occasionally The New York Times, Ms. Bird is the author of the picture book Giant Dance Party (Harper Collins, 2013) and co-author of Wild
Things: Acts of Mischief in Children's Literature (Candlewick, 2014).
 Ted
Levine
Ted Levine is President and CEO of KIDS DISCOVER, an award-winning publisher of high-interest nonfiction material
for children ages 6-14. Under Ted's direction, KIDS DISCOVER has developed over 25 iPad apps, each one focusing on a single subject in the natural and social sciences. From Cells and Simple Machines to Ancient Greece and American Revolution, KIDS DISCOVER's
apps are consistently featured by Apple as Best Apps in Education. Ted is particularly interested in the intersection of multi-media, technology, and storytelling, and leveraging those three elements to create compelling and memorable educational experiences
for kids.
www.kidsdiscover.com
 Daniel
Nayeri
Daniel Nayeri is the Director of Children’s Books at Workman Publishing where he gets to make definitive and useful
books for great and terrible children. Previously, he was Digital Editorial Director at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books For Young Readers. He is the author of
How to Tell a Story, and
Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow, a collection of four novellas.
Hallie Warshaw
Hallie Warshaw is the founder, creative director, and publisher of Zest Books. After spending most of her teen years
making scrapbooks, collages, murals, and generally a making mess with art supplies, Hallie went on to receive a BA from Clark University and a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design. She began her career as a graphic designer in Hong Kong and Japan working
for several design firms. Later, upon her return to her native New York, Hallie became an art director in the educational publishing group at Scholastic. In 2000, she founded Orange Avenue Publishing in San Francisco, which grew into Zest Books in 2006 when
Hallie saw the opportunity for creating fun and hip nonfiction books for young adult readers.
www.zestbooks.net
 Jason
Wells
Jason M. Wells started his career in book publishing in high school and is currently the Executive Director of Publicity
and Marketing for children’s books at ABRAMS. He has held positions at Simon & Schuster, Disney, and Penguin. Jason has worked on bestselling and award winning books, including the mega hit Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney, Olivia by Ian Falconer,
Babar by Laurent de Brunhoff, ttyl by Lauren Myracle, among others, and with celebrated authors Mac Barnett, Laura Numeroff, Molly Shannon, and Susan Orlean, to name a few. He has also promoted award winning nonfiction and historical fiction, including Maritcha
by Tonya Bolden, winner of a Coretta Scott King honor award, and Heart of a Samurai, winner of a Newbery Honor award. Jason sits on the steering committee of The Children’s Book Council, is in charge of membership for the American Library Association’s Exhibitor
Roundtable, and was on the faculty of the Columbia Publishing Course for over five years. Originally from Locust Valley, Long Island, he now lives in Manhattan.
www.abramsbooks.com
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Saturday at 11:30 AM, presented by:
 Amanda
Barbara
Amanda Barbara is the CEO and co-founder of Pubslush, a pre-publication platform that offers crowd-funding and pre-order
options to authors and publishers. A philanthropist at heart, Amanda serves on the board of directors for the Pubslush Foundation, which supports children’s literacy initiatives worldwide, and is a founder and director of The Barbara Family Foundation, an
organization committed to assisting charities and children in need. Amanda is an advocate for crowd-funding in the publishing world and has spoken at various conferences, such as Writer’s Digest, Exceptional Women in Publishing, Crowd-funding East Conference,
and the Digital Publishing Innovation Summit, and has served as an ambassador and speaker at CONTEC at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Amanda has also been a contributor to Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Elite
Daily. www.pubslush.com
 Dixie
Laite
Sarah "Dixie" Laite is a writer, speaker, digital content marketing strategist, and freelance marketing and branding
consultant. With over 25 years experience in television, online and magazines, Dixie has worked for a slew of major media brands including Nickelodeon, PBS, Oprah Winfrey, Sesame Street, Martha Stewart,
Oxygen, AMC, WE-TV, Etsy, the New York Post, the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, BUST, CNN.com, Thirteen/WNET, Scholastic and Noggin. Laite has been profiled in New York Magazine, the
New York Times, and a variety of magazines and websites. Dixie is passionate about helping and inspiring people to put their best foot forward on a variety of media platforms, and she's a strong proponent of how developing your personal brand can impact and
improve your life -- and livelihood. She invites you to connect with her on LinkedIn, Twitter (@Damestyle) or on one of these sites: www.dixielaite.com, www.lostartofbeingadame.com,
www.likeabossgirls.com.
 Kelly
Leonard
Kelly Leonard is the Founder and Principal Consultant of KLO Associates, LLC, a digital marketing boutique specializing
in custom content strategy and influencer engagement for authors, publishers, start-ups and nonprofits. Previously she held senior management positions at Time Warner Book Group and Hachette Book Group, where she set strategic vision and implementation of
website and social media development, production, content creation and marketing for author, book and corporate sites, apps and e-newsletters. Kelly has created campaigns for best-selling authors including James Patterson, Nelson DeMille, Brad Meltzer, Michael
Connelly, Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Marcus Luttrell, and many more.
 Roxie
Munro
Roxie Munro is an author/Illustrator of 35+ children's books, including Market
Maze (2015), Busy Builders (Cook Prize STEM Honor); EcoMazes (SLJ Star, Smithsonian: Best Science Books for Children); Hatch! (Outstanding
Science Trade Book, Society of School Librarians International Honor Award, Bank St College Best Book w/Outstanding Merit); award-winning Inside-Outside series: NYC,
Washington DC, Paris, London, Texas, Libraries, Dinosaurs. Fourteen interactive apps: Roxie's a-MAZE-ing Vacation Adventure, Roxie's Doors, Roxie's Puzzle Adventure; KIWIStoryBooks: Fire Station,
TV Station, Rainforest, Coral Reef, Dinosaurs, Space Station, others, all w/iPad apps. She is a frequent speaker on transitioning from print books to apps, nonfiction and concept books, gamification, and crossmedia. www.roxiemunro.com
 Neal
Thompson
Neal Thompson is Manager of Author and Publishing Relations at Amazon.com, where he oversees grant funding for authors
and literary organizations, and outreach to the writing community. Neal is a former journalist and the author of four nonfiction books, including A Curious Man and Driving
with the Devil. Neal joined Amazon in 2011, and has managed Amazon’s Best Book of the Month program and helped launch the Amazon Book Review blog. www.createspace.com
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Saturday at 3:15 PM, presented by:
Shelby Alinsky
As an educational and children’s editor, Shelby’s experience has ranged from creating innovative teaching guides and
classroom materials to developing top-rated educational apps. As the Digital Editor for National Geographic Explorer Magazines, she forged the way for a new approach to interactive magazines. As a result, the National Geographic Explorer for Home Learning
app is consistently listed in Apple’s subject-area app collections. Currently, as a Children’s Books Editor at the National Geographic Society, she manages the highly successful National Geographic Kids Readers series, the National Geographic Kids Chapter
Books series, and the National Geographic Kids Almanac. Shelby’s focus is on bringing highly engaging reading to children to foster a lifelong love of learning.
kids.nationalgeographic.com,
www.shelbyalinsky.com
 Justin
Chanda
Justin Chanda joined the editorial staff at Simon & Schuster in 2005 after an eight year stint at HarperCollins. A
graduate of New York University, Justin was named publisher of the S&S Books for Young Readers imprint in 2007 and McElderry Books and Atheneum Books for Young Readers in 2009. He oversees the publication of three hundred and fifty titles per year ranging
from the youngest picture book to the edgiest YA. He is keenly interested in publishing books that are equal parts commercial and literary, books that make a contribution to the tradition, while truly entertaining kids. He also has the opportunity to edit
some of the industry's best talent, including the likes of: Mike Lupica, Jon Scieszka, Loren Long, Kenneth Oppel, Patricia MacLachlan, Peter Brown, Michael Ian Black, Karma Wilson, Debbie Ohi and Morgan Matson. Justin was formerly a board member of the Children’s
Book Council and is an adjunct instructor for the NYU Graduate Publishing Program.
www.simonandschuster.com
 Domenica
Di Piazza
Domenica Di Piazza is the Editorial Director of Twenty-First Century Books (TFCB), the YA nonfiction imprint under
Lerner Publishing Group’s nonfiction umbrella. She is committed to developing high-quality educational nonfiction for the school-library market that also inspires and challenges teen readers to think broadly about their lives and their world. Under Domenica’s
guidance, the imprint has moved from series-based materials to focusing solely on single-title nonfiction. TFCB titles consistently garner star reviews from
School Library Journal,
Booklist, Kirkus and are among
Junior Library Guild selections each season. Domenica acquires and edits across the core nonfiction disciplines and has written two nonfiction Lerner titles,
West Virginia and
Arkansas (both in Lerner’s Hello USA series) as well as essays for adults. She is featured monthly on the Lerner blog at
lernerbooks.blogspot.com, where she writes about TFCB titles and authors, school-library trends, and her own reading interests.
 Emily
Easton
Emily Easton has recently joined the newly resurrected Crown Books for Young Readers imprint at Penguin Random House
as an Executive Editor. Prior to this position she was the Publisher of Walker Books for Young Readers at Bloomsbury. Emily acquires and edits across many genres and age levels from picture books through YA, with a particular interest in nonfiction that is
voice driven, and will speak to both educators in traditional school and library channels as well as young readers themselves through retail outlets. A recent nonfiction title is
How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg, illustrated by Kevin O’Malley, an ALA Notable Children’s Book.
www.randomhousekids.com
 Whitney
Leader-Picone
Whitney Leader-Picone is a Senior Designer at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers. She recently moved
to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt from Charlesbridge Publishing where she was a Designer and E-book Conversion Manager. She works on all sorts of books from board books to Young Adult and everything in between. She particularly likes working on History books because
she loves to do the research. She has an MA in Children's Literature from the Center for the Study of Children's Literature at Simmons College and a BA in Liberal Arts from Sarah Lawrence College.
www.hmhco.com
 Samantha
Schutz
Samantha Schutz is the Associate Publisher for Nonfiction and Licensing at Scholastic. She works closely with the
creative and energetic editors on her team to create more than 125 titles a year. This includes the New York Times bestselling
Star Wars: Jedi Academy and Minecraft series. Samantha finds plenty of inspiration in websites like Buzzfeed and Iflscience and is especially interested in combining licenses and nonfiction
to engage young reluctant readers.
Jason
Wells
Jason M. Wells started his career in book publishing in high school and is currently the Executive Director of Publicity
and Marketing for children’s books at ABRAMS. He has held positions at Simon & Schuster, Disney, and Penguin. Jason has worked on bestselling and award winning books, including the mega hit
Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney,
Olivia by Ian Falconer,
Babar by Laurent de Brunhoff,
ttyl by Lauren Myracle, among others, and with celebrated authors Mac Barnett, Laura Numeroff, Molly Shannon, and Susan Orlean, to name a few. He has also promoted award winning nonfiction and
historical fiction, including Maritcha by Tonya Bolden, winner of a Coretta Scott King honor award, and
Heart of a Samurai, winner of a Newbery Honor award. Jason sits on the steering committee of The Children’s Book Council, is in charge of membership for the American Library Association’s Exhibitor
Roundtable, and was on the faculty of the Columbia Publishing Course for over five years. Originally from Locust Valley, Long Island, he now lives in Manhattan.
www.abramsbooks.com
Panel Moderated by:
 Susannah
Richards
Susannah Richards is an associate professor of education at Eastern Connecticut State University where she teaches
courses in English Language. She has a strong background in content area literacy and differentiation strategies for integrating English Language Arts instruction to create high-level social studies and science curriculum. She was on the 2013 John Newbery
Award Committee (that awarded an honor to Bomb: The Race to Build-and Steal the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin) and regularly reviews and presents on books for youth at international,
national and state conferences. She has worked as a curriculum consultant and professional development provider with large and small diverse school districts.
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Learn from the people who have their finger on the pulse of
children's nonfiction!™
Writers, illustrators, publishers, editors, librarians, and educators will gather to share information about leading-edge developments
in:
THE BEST FACULTY EVER!
Our stellar faculty members include authors, illustrators, agents, app developers, marketing and social media consultants,
editors, photographers, art directors, designers, book packagers, educators at university graduate schools of education, and publishers from:
Your conference registration includes: Panels, Workshops, Social Events, and Meals. This
is your chance to make the connections and get the ideas that will empower you in the changing world of children's nonfiction. Don't miss this opportunity! Register now!
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