Agents Symposium

Jennifer Chen Tran is a literary agent at Glass Literary Management. With over a decade of experience in publishing, Jennifer is passionate about nurturing and championing authors and their creative lives. She represents a wide range of talent, including journalists, physicians, entrepreneurs, thought-leaders, chefs, and graphic novelists, among others.

Prior to joining Glass Literary Management, Jennifer was a literary agent at several top literary agencies and served as Of Counsel at The New Press. She obtained her Juris Doctor from Northeastern School of Law in Boston, MA, and a Bachelors of Arts in English Literature from Washington University in St. Louis. She is an attorney in good standing in New York and California.

Jennifer is an editorial agent who believes in the art of collaboration and works closely with her authors from concept to publication, and beyond. As a person of color and daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, Jennifer is committed to amplifying voices from BIPOC, LGBTQ, underrepresented and marginalized communities. Her ultimate goal is to work in concert with authors to shape books that will have a lasting positive social impact on the world – books that illuminate, entertain, and inspire.

Jennifer is actively seeking: General Fiction, Women’s Fiction, General Nonfiction – Creative and/or Narrative, General Nonfiction – Practical, How-to, Cookery, Essay Collections, Memoir, Graphic Novels or Memoirs, Middle Grade, Young Adult

You can read an interview with Jennifer here.

Stephanie Delman spent 10 years building her list at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates before co-founding Trellis Literary Management in the fall of 2021. Stephanie is focused on adult fiction: stylish writing, high-stakes and high-concept literary thrillers, upmarket fiction, socially conscious fiction, untold or underrepresented historical fiction, psychologically propulsive suspense, maximalist storytelling, and literary novels that play with genre. She enjoys fiction that’s grounded in reality, but tinged with something else: a bit of surrealism, a touch of horror. A very small part of Stephanie’s list is nonfiction: specifically, braided/speculative memoir projects by authors with established platforms and diverse perspectives. Stephanie studied Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University and considers herself a “hands-on” agent, both editorially and as an advocate. She was raised in Northern California and now lives in Brooklyn with her family.

Stephanie is actively seeking: General Fiction, Literary Fiction, Suspense, Speculative, Horror

You can read an interview with Stephanie here.

Samantha Fabien (she/her) is a literary agent at Root Literary, representing award-winning and bestselling authors. She’s interested in high-concept, commercial, and upmarket fiction with all-or-nothing stakes for adult, young adult, and middle grade readers. Belonging to several intersectional identities and surrounded by an equally diverse community, Samantha has a deep-held passion for stories that feature, highlight, and uplift marginalized and underrepresented voices. Her background includes a Bachelor’s in PR and Journalism from Seton Hall University and a certificate from the Columbia Publishing Course. Previously, she was the International Rights Manager at LDLA and also interned and worked at various agencies, such as Ayesha Pande Literary and Writers House. From these experiences, Samantha fostered a love for sharing diverse, lasting, and inclusive stories with the world—both in the U.S. and abroad. Samantha also works and volunteers with organizations, including Gotham Writers, Authors Guild, and the New York Writing Room. Currently, she serves as a co-director of the Mentorship Committee within AALA and LAOC, which is devoted to increasing the promotion and retention of historically underrepresented groups, particularly people of color, in the agenting profession.

Samantha is actively seeking: General Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Mystery, Thriller/ Action Adventure, Suspense, Romance, Science Fiction/ Fantasy, Young Adult

You can read an interview with Samantha here.

Melissa Flashman is a Senior Literary Agent at Janklow & Nesbit & Associates who represents award-winning and best-selling fiction and nonfiction. In nonfiction, she is particularly interested in conversation-changing books including journalism, science, technology, business/finance/economics, memoir/narrative, essays and cultural criticism. She is drawn to a range of literary and commercial fiction and is particularly excited about stories that touch on the deeper meaning of life, family, identity and love. A good page-turner is always welcome. Melissa’s authors have won numerous awards including the Pulitzer Prize, the Windham Campbell Prize, Whiting Award, National Book Critic Circle Award, the Rona Jaffe Award, the Hugo Award, n + 1 writer’s fellowship, and The Nation’s Ridenhour Prize among others. A former first serial and magazine agent, she enjoys helping her writers place journalism, essays and fiction in a range of publications including The New Yorker, Harper’s, The New York Times, Vogue, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The Paris Review, n + 1, Tin House, The Baffler and Jacobin. Recent titles include The Dawn of Everything (FSG) by David Graeber & David Wengrow; Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman (FSG), Rebel Girl by Kathleen Hanna (Ecco), Sociopath, a Memoir by Patric Gagne (Simon & Schuster), Out of Office (Knopf) by Charlie Warzel and Anne Helen Petersen, Stray (Knopf) by Stephanie Danler, The Undying (FSG) by Anne Boyer, From the Hood to the Holler (Crown) by Charles Booker, Unwinding Anxiety (Avery) by Judson Brewer and Private Equity by Carrie Sun.

Melissa is actively seeking: General Fiction, Literary Fiction, General Nonfiction – Creative and/or Narrative, General Nonfiction – Practical, How-to, Cookery, Essay Collections, Memoir, Popular Science, History

You can read an interview with Melissa here.

Tamara Kawar is a literary agent at DeFiore & Company who represents writer and illustrator clients in both the children’s and adult markets, with a particular focus on talented LGBTQ+ and BIPOC storytellers. She holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Princeton University and an M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies from Columbia University. She is a member of Literary Agents of Change (LAOC), where she co-directs a mentorship program for early career agents from underrepresented backgrounds.

Tamara is actively seeking graphic novels for all ages and across genres; science fiction, fantasy, horror, and historical fiction for middle grade, YA, and adult readers; upmarket and book club fiction, especially genre-bending stories, and those with an international bent; and adult & YA rom-coms and romance featuring LGBTQ+ characters. She also represents select nonfiction, including illustrated projects. Across all categories, she is passionate about championing marginalized voices and perspectives.

Tamara is actively seeking: Women’s Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction/ Fantasy, Graphic Novels or Memoirs, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Picture Book

Mary C. Moore represents a wide range of fiction as an Aevitas agent based in the Bay Area. She likes to work with clients long-term, and is comfortable representing multiple genres/age-ranges that an author is interested in, although prefers to begin a partnership in one genre before jumping to another. She is currently hoping to find layered and deeply satisfying upmarket fiction, bookclub fiction with light speculative elements, and smart female sleuth stories.

Mary is actively seeking: General Fiction, Literary Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Mystery, Thriller/ Action Adventure, Suspense, Romance, Science Fiction/ Fantasy, Middle Grade, Young Adult

You can read an interview with Mary here.

James Mustelier is a Literary Agent with The Bent Agency. He’s looking for a range of commercial and literary fiction and non-fiction. Across genres he prizes economical prose, complex characters, steadily built tension, narrative gravity, and the momentary relief of dark humor, even amid dire circumstances. In commercial fiction he’s looking for compact horror and mysteries with unique hooks and intricate plotting. In sci-fi and fantasy he’s drawn to stories that are grounded in reality and have high stakes that touch on contemporary issues — much more speculative fiction and alternate histories than space opera or high fantasy. In nonfiction he’s looking for books that give him a vivid look into subcultures and events he might not otherwise have had the chance to explore. Much of his favorite nonfiction melds a distinct narrative voice with rigorous research.

James is actively seeking: Literary Fiction, General Nonfiction – Creative and/or Narrative, Mystery, Thriller/Action Adventure, Suspense

You can read an interview with James here.

Marin Takikawa is an agent and foreign rights director at The Friedrich Agency. Born in Tokyo and raised in Singapore and NYC, she joined TFA in early 2021 after getting her start as an assistant to three agents at Foundry Literary + Media. She’s looking for subversive, genre-bending literary/upmarket fiction (including but not limited to speculative concepts, family sagas, anything that plays with myth and folklore), intersectional narrative nonfiction, and voice-driven and literary-leaning YA. Her clients include National Endowment for the Arts, We Need Diverse Books, Tin House, Asian American Writers’ Workshop, and New York Foundation for the Arts fellows.

Marin is actively seeking: General Fiction, Literary Fiction, General Nonfiction – Creative and/or Narrative, Speculative Fiction, Young Adult

You can read an interview with Marin here.

Ann Leslie Tuttle joined Dystel, Goderich & Bourret in 2017 after working for 20 years at Harlequin Books where she most recently was a Senior Editor. At Harlequin, she was fortunate to work on an extensive and varied list of bestselling and award-winning titles in romance and women’s fiction. She is actively acquiring women’s fiction, especially beach reads and historical fiction; contemporary romance, rom coms, historical romance, Southern Gothics, thrillers, mysteries, narrative nonfiction and Middle Grade. She received her B.A. degree from the College of William and Mary and an M.A. from the University of Virginia. Finding and nurturing talented new and established writers has always been Ann Leslie’s passion.

Ann Leslie is actively seeking: General Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Mystery, Thriller/ Action Adventure, Suspense, Romance, Historical Fiction, Middle Grade, Young Adult

You can read an interview with Ann Leslie here.

Abby Walters is a Literary Agent at Creative Artists Agency (CAA). Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, she earned her B.A. at Miami University of Ohio where she majored in English Literature and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. After graduation, she attended the Columbia Publishing Course and worked briefly in editorial at MORE magazine, before beginning her career in book publishing at Random House in 2016. While there, she worked on publicity campaigns and event strategy for the imprint’s top authors including Paul Kalanithi, Trevor Noah, Lee Child, Jodi Picoult, Ta-Nehisi Coates, and more. She joined CAA in 2017 as an assistant to Kate Childs, working on book launches for clients like President Joe Biden, Reese Witherspoon, and Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Bush. After working for agents in both the TV/Film Rights and Publishing department, Walters was promoted to literary agent in 2020. She represents writers in all areas of fiction and nonfiction, with a focus on literary and upmarket fiction and narrative nonfiction and memoir. Walters’ list includes NYT, WSJ, and USA Today bestsellers, as well as book club picks including Read with Jenna, B&N Discover, and Indie Next. Some of her clients include Thao Thai, Honor Levy, Zoë Eisenberg, Lidija Hilje, Cole Brown, Jazmine Hughes, and Samantha Leach.

Abby is actively seeking: General Fiction, Literary Fiction, Women’s Fiction, General Nonfiction: Creative and/or Narrative, General Nonfiction: Practical, How-To, Cookery, Memoir