Reg­is­tra­tion for this event is closed.

Have you writ­ten a book that you’d like to have pub­lished? Do you have a sto­ry idea? Have you already been pub­lished and would like to net­work with oth­ers in your field? The 2022 Jew­ish Writ­ers’ Con­fer­ence, spon­sored by the Jew­ish Book Coun­cil, brings togeth­er agents, edi­tors, and authors for dis­cus­sions, work­shops, and pan­els dis­cussing Jew­ish book pub­lish­ing and writ­ing. Please note that this year’s con­fer­ence com­bines our annu­al Jew­ish Chil­dren’s Writ­ers Sem­i­nar and our Jew­ish Adult Writer’s Sem­i­nar. There are no refunds for this event. 

The 2022 con­fer­ence will be held vir­tu­al­ly on Sun­day, Novem­ber 6. Addi­tion­al author-led pan­els will be held on Mon­day, Novem­ber 7, Tues­day, Novem­ber 8, and Wednes­day, Novem­ber 9. 

This con­fer­ence will include:

• Indus­try pan­els with speak­ers from major and inde­pen­dent pub­lish­ers, who will prove insight into the field and share advice and resources for authors to help guide them on their own pub­lish­ing journey
• Author-led pan­els who will dis­cuss spe­cif­ic gen­res and themes in the field, their writ­ing process, and their own per­son­al pub­lish­ing experiences.
• Work­shops led by Leigh Stein, Emi­ly Stone, and Bon­ny V. Fet­ter­man, that will help you get a book deal and jump­start your writ­ing process, and help brain­storm ways to get unstuck when con­front­ed with writer’s block.
• Videos of all the pan­els will be avail­able for view­ing for two weeks after the con­fer­ence, in case you miss one!
• A month-long, once-a-week writ­ing group that will occur after the con­fer­ence – opt-in!

And more!

This year’s pan­elists and mod­er­a­tors include the fol­low­ing individuals.

KEYNOTE: Lau­ren Wein, Edi­to­r­i­al Direc­tor at Avid Read­er Press

• Stéphanie Abou, lit­er­ary agent at Massie & McQuilkin
• Rachel Bean­land, author
• Ernesto Cis­neros, author
• Jen­nieke Cohen, author
• Emi Watan­abe Cohen, author
• Eri­ka Drei­­fus-read­­er, writer, and lit­er­ary advocate
• Jen­ni Fer­rari-Adler, lit­er­ary agent at Union Literary
• Bon­ny V. Fet­ter­man, edi­tor and writ­ing coach
• Phil Getz, senior edi­tor, Pal­grave Macmillan
• Aleah Gorn­bein, pub­li­cist at Scholastic
• Karen Green­berg, editor
• Mar­jorie Ingall – writer, author, and co-cre­a­tor of Sor​ry​Watch​.com
• Ami­na Iro, assis­tant edi­tor at Hachette
• Men­achem Kaiser, author
• Ian Lendler, Cre­ative Direc­tor, Mck­in­non Literary
• Made­lyn McZeal, edi­to­r­i­al assis­tant at Levine Querido
• Car­la Naum­burg, Con­tent Offi­cer, PJ Library and PJ Our Way
• Dena Neusner, Exec­u­tive Edi­tor at Behrman House, Inc., Apples & Hon­ey Press
• Idra Novey, author
• Hei­di Rabi­nowitz – Library Direc­tor at Feld­man Chil­dren’s Library of Con­gre­ga­tion B’nai Israel, host of The Book of Life: A Pod­cast About Jew­ish Kidlit (Most­ly), and found­ed the pop­u­lar Jew­ish Kidlit Mavens group on Facebook
• Rachel Reiss, mar­ket­ing direc­tor, Shelf Awareness
• Elana Roth Park­er, lit­er­ary agent at Lau­ra Dail Lit­er­ary Agency
• Jor­dan Rod­man, Senior Direc­tor of Pub­lic­i­ty at Vin­tage & Anchor at Pen­guin Ran­dom House
• Lili Rosen­stre­ich, Pub­lish­er, Kalan­iot Books
• Rena Ross­ner, lit­er­ary agent at Deb­o­rah Har­ris Agency
• Moshe Schul­man, author and publicist
• Noa Shapiro, assis­tant edi­tor, Pen­guin Ran­dom House
• Jill Shin­der­man, Pub­lish­er at PJ Library
• Leigh Stein, author, cul­tur­al crit­ic, and book devel­op­ment expert.
• Emi­ly Stone, writer, teacher, and con­tent alchemist
• Joni Suss­man, Pub­lish­er at Kar-Ben Publishing
• Mol­ly Tol­sky, founder and edi­tor of Hey Alma
• Lenore Weitz­man, JBC Board of Directors
• Tess Weitzn­er, lit­er­ary agent at Tri­dent Media Group
• Jane Yolen, author

Addi­tion­al author-led pan­els will include the fol­low­ing authors and topics:

Sun­day, Novem­ber 6th, 3:30 PM ET

Not For Myself Alone: Cre­at­ing and Sus­tain­ing Jew­ish Lit­er­ary Com­mu­ni­ties with David Eben­bach and Hila Ratz­abi, mod­er­at­ed by Rick Chess

Mon­day, Novem­ber 7, 6:00 PM ET 

Hope, Inspi­ra­tion and Tikkun Olam: Envi­ron­men­tal Sto­ry­telling for Kids and Young Adults with Bar­bara New­man, Char­lotte Off­say, and Day­na Lorentz mod­er­at­ed by Elisa Spun­gen Bildner

Social­ly Engaged Queer Jew­ish Crime Fic­tion: A Sub­ver­sive, Inter­sec­tion­al Path to Jus­tice with Don­na Minkowitz, Rachel Sharona Lewis, and Aden Poly­doros mod­er­at­ed by Jill Dearman

Tues­day, Novem­ber 8, 6:00 PM ET 

Using Kidlit to Build Ally­ship With­in and Out­side the Jew­ish Com­mu­ni­ty with Sarah Dar­er Littman, Chana Stiefel, and Liza Wiemer mod­er­at­ed by Nan­cy Churnin

Dig­ging Up the Past: The Pow­er, Pain, and Neces­si­ty of Secrets with Lisa Barr and Anna Solomon, mod­er­at­ed by Rachel Barenbaum

Wednes­day, Novem­ber 9, 6:00 PM ET 

Going Beyond Jew­ish Kidlit Tropes in Con­tem­po­rary Jew­ish Lit­er­a­ture, with Veera Hiranan­dani and Joanne Levy mod­er­at­ed by Susan Kusel

Scriven­ers and Soul­mates: Writ­ing Love, Match­mak­ing, and Fam­i­ly through a Jew­ish Lens with Jean Meltzer and Han­nah Oren­stein mod­er­at­ed by Lyn­da Cohen Loigman