This pro­gram 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 2023 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 the con­fer­ence com­bines our annu­al Jew­ish Chil­dren’s Writ­ers Sem­i­nar and our Jew­ish Adult Writ­ers Sem­i­nar. There are no refunds for this event. 

The 2023 con­fer­ence will be held vir­tu­al­ly on Sun­day, Novem­ber 12. Addi­tion­al author-led pan­els will be held on Mon­day, Novem­ber 13th. The fee for the con­fer­ence is $250.

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 that will help give you ideas as to where your book sits in the mar­ket, and writ­ing work­shops for fic­tion and non­fic­tion writers
• Videos of all the pan­els will be avail­able for view­ing 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:

Keynote from Bran­di Larsen: Inside a Pub­lish­er’s Mind: Under­stand­ing the Indus­try’s Tsuris to Reduce Your Own

Tra­di­tion­al trade pub­lish­ing can be a source of frus­tra­tion, exclu­sion, and con­fu­sion for too many authors. In this keynote, pub­lish­ing expert Bran­di Larsen will help the audi­ence under­stand what hap­pens behind the closed doors of the Big Five, what that means for your work, and how to adjust your mind­set to do what’s best for your book.

Bran­di Larsen is a writer, speak­er, and coach build­ing a more inclu­sive pub­lish­ing land­scape. Her work at Pen­guin Ran­dom House helped cre­ate NYT best­sellers and her jour­nal­ism pieces earned Emmy nom­i­na­tions. Her talks about pub­lish­ing, lead­er­ship, and pur­pose inspire audi­ences from Zoom to Har­vard. She serves as Pres­i­dent Emer­i­tus for Lit­er­ary Cleve­land and writes books and essays. Bran­di is the co-writer of NYT-rec­om­mend­ed Uncul­tured: A Mem­oir, from St. Mar­t­in’s Press. Brandi​Larsen​.com

Addi­tion­al pan­elists will include (with more names to come soon!):

• Tamar Rydzin­s­ki, lit­er­ary agent at Con­text Lit­er­ary Agency
• Boris Fish­man, author of A Replace­ment Life (2014), Don’t Let My Baby Do Rodeo (2016), and Sav­age Feast (2019).
• Dena Neusner, Exec­u­tive Edi­tor at Behrman House, Inc., Apples & Hon­ey Press
• Joni Suss­man, Pub­lish­er at Kar-Ben Publishing
• Rena Ross­ner, lit­er­ary agent at Deb­o­rah Har­ris Agency
• Jor­dan Rod­man, Senior Direc­tor of Pub­lic­i­ty at Vin­tage & Anchor at Pen­guin Ran­dom House
• Sab­ri­na Taitz, lit­er­ary agent at WME
• Jes­si­ca Kas­mer Jacobs, lit­er­ary agent at Deb­o­rah Har­ris Agency
• Rebec­ca Podos, Rees Lit­er­ary Agency 
• Brooke Warn­er, Pub­lish­er of She Writes Press, author
• Michael Wise, co-founder of New Ves­sel Press
• Tom Haviv, cofounder and cre­ative direc­tor of Ayin Press
• Susan Kusel, librar­i­an, chil­dren’s book buy­er, and own­er of Dream On Books, a children’s book con­sult­ing company
• Emi­ly Stone, writer, teacher, and con­tent alchemist
• Amy Gash, Exec­u­tive Edi­tor, Algo­nquin Books, Hachette Book Group
• Simon Klar­feld, Direc­tor of Con­tent at PJ Library
• 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
• Richard Ho, author of Two New Years, and more!
• Phoebe Yeh, VP/​Publisher, Crown Books for Young Read­ers, Ran­dom House Children’s Books
• Kevin R. Amer, Chief Legal Offi­cer of the Authors Guild
• Amaryah Oren­stein, Lit­er­ary Agent at GO Literary
• Irene Vázquez, Assis­tant Edi­tor and Pub­li­cist at Levine Querido
• Han­na Halperin, author of Some­thing Wild and I Could Live Here Forever
• Jonathan Wil­son is the author of nine books, includ­ing most recent­ly, The Red Balcony
• Jane Zal­ben, author of eight books, includ­ing A Moon for Moe & Mo, Pearl’s Eight Days of Chanukah, and the best-sell­ing Ben­ji hol­i­day series.

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

Sun­day, Novem­ber 12th, time TBD

Address­ing Anti­semitism in Our Lit­er­ary Lives with Rachel Kadish, Aviya Kush­n­er, and Adri­enne Ross Scan­lan, mod­er­at­ed by Eri­ka Dreifus

These three author pan­els on Mon­day, Novem­ber 13th are open to the pub­lic: click here to sign-up!

Mon­day, Novem­ber 13th, 5:00 PM ET

Mid­dle Grade Mon­sters and Mag­ic with Emi Watan­abe Cohen, Deke Moul­ton, and Lau­rel Sny­der, mod­er­at­ed by Kalyn Josephson

Mon­day, Novem­ber 13th, 6:00 PM ET

The Epi­ge­net­ics of Joy: Writ­ing Judaism Beyond Trau­ma with Chan­da Feld­man, Móni­ca Gomery, and Eri­ka Meit­ner, mod­er­at­ed by Jes­si­ca Jacobs

Mon­day, Novem­ber 13th, 7:00 PM ET

It’s Bloom­ing: Yid­dish in Trans­la­tion with Mindl Cohen and Ilan Stavans