Keynote Speakers and Panelists

Deborah Treisman is the fiction editor of The New Yorker and is the host of the award-winning New Yorker Fiction Podcast. Her translations of Francophone writers, such as Patrick Chamoiseau, Marguerite Duras, and Tahar Ben Jelloun, have appeared in The New Yorker, The Nation, and Grand Street. In 2012, she received the Center for Fiction’s Maxwell E. Perkins Award for Distinguished Contribution to Fiction. Recently, she co-authored The Dream Colony: A Life in Art, a memoir based on numerous conversations between pioneering curator Walter Hopps and co-author Anne Doran.

Jeffery Deaver is one of America’s greatest writers of mystery and crime novels. In addition to his best-selling Lincoln Rhyme trilogy and Kathryn Dance thriller series he served as President of the Mystery Writers of America. His books have sold 50 million copies internationally.

MEMOIR:

Lucinda Franks is an acclaimed reporter and novelist, as well as the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. She has written five novels, the latest being a memoir published by Farrar Straus & Giroux called Timeless: Love, Morgenthau, and Me (2014), which tells the story of her unlikely marriage to Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.

Daphne Merkin is an American literary critic, essayist and novelist who has won the Edward Lewis Wallant Award and whose work has been featured in a list of notable books selected by the New York Times. Her most recent memoir, This Close to Happy: A Reckoning with Depression, was chosen as the New York Times Book Review Favorite Read of 2016.

Steven Gaines recently authored One of These Things First, a memoir about his adolescent stay at the Payne Whitney Psychiatric Clinic, his struggle with the conversion therapy he underwent there, and his memories of the erudite people he met during that time — a book the New York Times Book Review called “an absolute treasure.”

Strong-Cuevas is a renowned sculpture artist and the subject of David Kipler’s retrospective, Strong-Cuevas Sculpture: Premonitions in Retrospect. Her work can be found in galleries, museums and exhibits across the United States. Her newest book, Strong-Cuevas Drawings — Ideas on Paper, was just released in May.

Kathleen Hill is an American novelist and short story writer. She has authored The New York Times’ Notable book of the Year and The New York Times’ Editor’s Choice over the course of her career. Her latest work, She Read to us in the Late Afternoons: A Life in Novels, explores her life and experiences living in Nigeria, France, and New York.

FICTION:

Maxine Rosaler is a writer whose work has been featured in The Southern Review, Glimmer Train, Green Mountains Review, and Fifth Wednesday. Rosaler is the author of many books, including Coping with Asperger Syndrome, and most recently The Devil on Trial: Witches, Anarchists, Atheists, Communists, and Terrorists in America's Courtrooms, co-authored with Phillip Margulies.

Joseph Olshan has been a prolific writer for over three decades, publishing nine novels – one of which, Clara’s Heart, was made into a feature film starring Whoopi Goldberg. In addition to his award winning novels, Olshan has had countless pieces published in various newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, and The Wall Street Journal.

Malachy McCourt is an Irish-American actor, writer, and politician. His memoirs, A Monk Swimming and Singing My Him Song, detail his life in Ireland and the United States. Most recently, his 2017 memoir, Death Need Not Be Fatal, details McCourt’s musings on mortality.

Dara Horn has earned accolades for her unique writing style that blends magical realism with Jewish culture and history. Her five books, including her most recent, Eternal Life – a study of a Jewish woman who has been alive for 2,000 years – have received honors such as the Editor’s Choice in The New York Times, the Harold U. Ribalow Prize, and the Reform Judaism Prize for Jewish Fiction. In addition to writing, Horn has taught Jewish literature and Israeli history at Harvard University and Sarah Lawrence College.

Nancy DiBenedetto has worked as a successful book doctor for many years. She has taught at Marymount Manhattan College as a professor in the Fine Arts Department and has served as administrative dean at New York School of Interior Design.

Iris Smyles is an accomplished author of her 2013 debut novel Iris Has Free Time. She is the literary editor of EAST, The East Hampton Star Magazine. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Vogue, Paris Review Daily, Bomb, Guernica Magazine, Nerve, New York Press, McSweeney's Internet Tendency and Best American Travel Writing 2015, and Splice Today.

AGENTS:

Mark Gottleib, a literary agent in Trident Media Group, is adept in all categories and genres of literature, and has represented a multitude of New York Times bestselling authors. He has been ranked #1 among Literary Agents on Publisher’s Marketplace based on his volume of deals.

Sidney Offit received his B.A. in English Literature from Johns Hopkins University, where he was also editor of The Johns Hopkins News-Letter. He was part of the Offit-Abend debates, which were a regular feature of the 10 o’clock news for a decade. His most recent work is his 2008 novel, Friends, Writers, and Other Countrymen: A Memoir.

Peter Rubie, a veteran literary agent, is the CEO of Fine Print Literary Agency. He calls himself a “sucker” for good writing, and represents a wide variety of topics in both fiction and non-fiction genres.

Jennifer Weltz is the President of the Jean V Naggar Literary Agency. She has sold books internationally, domestically, and for film. She takes up an author’s career, not just a project, and is very selective in her decisions for that reason.

Sarah Funke Butler is a Founder and Managing Partner of Funke Literary, LLC. She has been involved with the literary world for over two decades, curating private collections and directing and contributing to literary archives.

LITERARY ROADSHOW: PITCH YOUR BOOK PROJECTS TO THE EXPERTS

Bernard Starr is an author, columnist, media host, and professor emeritus at Brooklyn College. He was writer, producer and host of an award winning radio commentary, The Longevity Report.

Megan Abbott is the Edgar award-winning author of eight novels, including Dare Me, The Fever and the bestselling You Will Know Me. She is currently a staff writer on HBO’s new David Simon show, The Deuce. Her next novel, Give Me Your Hand, comes out in July 2018.

Jacob Krueger is the WGA award-winning and Gemini nominated screenwriter of The Matthew Shepard Story, founder of the Jacob Krueger Studio Screenwriting School in New York City, and host of the Write Your Screenplay podcast.

Glenn Lewis is the director of Journalism and Professor of English at York College, where he created the BA in Journalism Degree Program. He is also a Professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, responsible for teaching long-form Narrative Journalism, Feature Writing and a Nonfiction Book Writing Seminar. Lewis, a veteran journalist and author, has written about journalism, education, business, sports and societal trends. He has also served as Founding President and Creative Director of the book packaging company Book Smart, Inc.

Rita Rosenkranz is a literary agent and founder of a well-established boutique agency that works with major publishing houses, as well as regional publishers that handle a variety of niche markets.

Richard Schiffman is an environmental journalist, published poet, and author of several biographies. He has also been a contributor on NPR’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition.

Jason Starr is the international bestselling author of more than twenty crime novels and thrillers. His latest books are Savage Lane, and Fugitive Red, which will be published November 2018. He also writes comics and graphic novels for Marvel and DC, and the official novels for the hit FOX TV show, Gotham.