Presentations
The 2026 A&E Conference will include presentations by notable industry professionals. Over the conference weekend, we’ll have a variety of in-person presentations on both craft of writing and business of publishing topics.
Pre-Conference (Virtual)
Tuesday, June 16
“Practice Makes Pitch Perfect Presentation + Pitch Lab” | 6:30-8:30 PM CDT | Online via Zoom
All 2026 A&E Conference attendees are invited to join us for a special program aimed at helping you refine your pitch, so that you have a concise and compelling response to “Tell me about your project” during the big weekend.
After the presentation, we’ll move into a pitch lab, which will include small breakout group opportunities to practice your pitch with other registrants (which means you’ll also have the chance to meet some fellow attendees ahead of the big weekend).
A link to join the webinar will be sent the week of June 8. If you can’t make the live event, don’t worry! The “Practice Makes Pitch Perfect” presentation will be recorded and a link to the recording will be shared with you the day after the event takes place.
Our presenters for the “Practice Makes Pitch Perfect” presentation are Lance Fitzgerald, VP of Content and Business Development at Penguin Random House Audio, and Becka Oliver, Director of Talent, KAA.
Conference Weekend (In-Person)
Saturday, June 27
Elizabeth Copps is a Co-Founding Agent at Confluence Literary Agency. After obtaining an internship at a boutique literary agency, everything sparked for this starry-eyed book lover. In 2010, Elizabeth Copps drained her savings, left Florida, and moved to New York City to break into publishing. After a decade with Maria Carvainis Agency, she founded Copps Literary Services in 2021 in her current hometown of Englewood, CO. She brings 16 years of publishing experience and an award-winning client list to this new adventure. Elizabeth’s philosophy is simple: build relationships across the industry that are equitable, transparent, and built to last.
She represents thought-provoking upmarket and commercial fiction for adult, YA, and middle grade audiences and is particularly drawn to stories with lush prose, complex characters, and creative genre blends. She gravitates toward boundary-pushing horror + speculative fiction and is interested in the exploration of psychological terror, gothic atmospheres, macabre humor, or horror reflecting our socio-political anxieties. She has a particular soft spot for dark mythology and folklore retellings and unexpected love stories.
Elizabeth will be presenting on Saturday at 10:15 a.m. on “Cross-Genre and Emerging Literary Trends.”
Barbara Jones is a literary agent at DeFione & Company. She’s worked as an editor for more than thirty years, first in magazines (Harper’s Magazine, Vogue, More Magazine) then in books (as editorial director at Hyperion Books and executive editor at Henry Holt). As a magazine editor, she worked with such writers as Jennifer Egan, Elizabeth Gilbert, Christopher Hitchens, Ann Hood, Jean Korelitz, Lorrie Moore, ZZ Packer, Ann Patchett and many others. As a book editor, she edited and published national and New York Times bestsellers as well as national and international prizewinning titles by authors such as Luvvie Ajayi, Paul Auster, Dan Chaon, Susan Choi, Kelly Corrigan, Chitra Divakaruni, Lauren Groff, Janice Hadlow, Lillian Li, Julie Lythcott-Haims, and many others. She is now a literary agent at DeFiore & Company (which recently merged with Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency), representing writers of literary and upmarket commercial fiction as well as an idiosyncratic list of nonfiction authors. Her clients include Kate Axelrod, Charles Bock, J.J. Duncan, Elizabeth Ferris, Rafael Frumkin, Tali Gumbiner, Tiffany Hanssen, Isaac Oliver, The Swans of Harlem. She’s led writing workshops at New York University, Yale University and elsewhere, and lives with her family in Harlem, New York.
Barbara will be presenting on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. on “The Basics and the Bold: How to Know When Your Manuscript is Ready for an Agent.”
Ashley Lopez is an agent at Massie McQuilkin & Altman Literary Agents with over a decade of publishing experience. Formerly the Director of Foreign Rights and an agent at WLA Books, she has worked on international and New York Times bestsellers, bringing a global perspective to her authors. Ashley received her MFA in Fiction from Sarah Lawrence College. She is drawn to writing that creates its own sense of movement on the page, and stories that center unforgettable characters and singular experiences that speaks to something universal. She loves writers who aren’t afraid to raise the stakes, and smart people sharing their obsessions. A member of the Association of American Literary Agents, Ashley represents literary and book club fiction, grounded speculative, horror, thrillers, narrative and practical nonfiction, as well as select poetry and YA.
Ashley will be presenting on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on “Querying From a Place of Power.”
Clare Mao is an agent at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, where she represents adult fiction and nonfiction. Clare grew up in Queens, New York, attended Grinnell College in Iowa, and worked at Janklow & Nesbit and Europa Content before joining SJGA in 2024.
In fiction, she is looking for novels with a strong sense of place and insightful character work. She represents fiction across the spectrum of literary to upmarket/book club to commercial with strong writing, with a soft spot for a good, elevated love story. In nonfiction, she is seeking cultural criticism, narrative, and essay collections, and is actively looking for writing about solidarity, food, pop culture, and new modes of creating community. She also represents illustrated projects like cookbooks and photo books, and her list includes a Chinese mythology-inspired tarot deck, a photographic archive of emo music, and a narrative cookbook about baking through a year of self-discovery. Across genres, she is drawn to writers who are curious, thoughtful, and critical, who have expansive interests and concerns including and outside of writing, and who have a knack for blending genres and forms. Most importantly, she wants to represent writers who are having fun.
Clare’s clients include: Ifrah F. Ahmed, Tanya Bush, Johanna Hedva, Sally Wen Mao, Emily Mester, Rioghnach Robinson, and more.
Claire will be presenting on Saturday at 3:45 p.m. on “Social Media Strategies for Authors.”
Sunday, June 28
Taylor Martindale Kean is a literary agent with Full Circle Literary, actively acquiring children’s fiction projects and illustration. She is a graduate of The College of William and Mary, where she studied English and Hispanic Studies.
Taylor is looking for middle grade fiction, young adult fiction, and illustrators. She is interested in finding unique and unforgettable voices in contemporary, fantasy, historical and magical realism novels. More than anything, Taylor is looking for diverse, character-driven stories that bring their worlds vividly to life, and voices that are honest, original and interesting. Clients include: Gloria Amescua, David Bowles, Tirzah Price, Anoosha Syed, Olivia Sua, and more. When not working, Taylor can be found traveling, cooking, spending time with loved ones, or (surprise!) lost in a good book.
Taylor will be presenting on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. on “World-Building & Voices for All Genres.”
Amy Bishop-Wycisk Amy Bishop-Wycisk is an agent with Trellis Literary Management. With almost a decade of experience, she’s cultivating a wide-ranging list in upmarket and book club fiction, grounded sci-fi and fantasy, speculative fiction, expert-driven narrative nonfiction, and select YA, with a special interest in underrepresented voices. Her authors’ books have been NYT, USA Today, and indie bestsellers, a Reese’s Book Club selection, James Beard Award and Edgar Award winners, Indie Next picks, and Book of the Month and B&N Monthly selections. Before diving into the world of publishing, she graduated from SUNY Geneseo with a degree in Creative Writing. You can find her on Instagram at @abw.books.
Amy will be presenting on Sunday at 10:15 a.m. on “What to Ask an Agent When They Offer Representation.”
Maeve MacLysaght is a literary agent at Aevitas Creative Management representing commercial genre fiction and graphic novels for all ages. She is drawn most to stories with big, campy stakes but surprising emotional cores, lovably immoral characters, queer coded villains, and people kissing while things explode. The goal of her list is to increase the amount of queer and BIPOC joy in the world, and to make space for marginalized authors to rework the tropes that historically oppressed them.
Maeve will be presenting on Sunday at 11:30 a.m. on “Contracts 101 for Writers.”