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 2025 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 2025 con­fer­ence will be held vir­tu­al­ly on Sun­day, Novem­ber 23rd with addi­tion­al author-led pan­els on Mon­day, Novem­ber 24th. The ear­ly-bird fee for the con­fer­ence is $240, full fee will be $260.

This con­fer­ence will include:

• Indus­try pan­els with speak­ers from major and inde­pen­dent pub­lish­ers, who will pro­vide insight into the field and share advice and resources for authors to help guide them on their own pub­lish­ing journey
• Author-led pan­els which will dis­cuss spe­cif­ic gen­res and themes in the field, their writ­ing process, and their own per­son­al pub­lish­ing experiences
• 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
• Meet one-on-one with some of our pan­elists to dis­cuss your works-in-progress (requires an addi­tion­al fee)

This year’s pan­elists and mod­er­a­tors include the following:

• A Keynote Con­ver­sa­tion with award-win­ning author André Aciman
• Chil­dren’s edi­tors and agents Ask My Any­thing pan­el, includ­ing Dena Neusner, Karen Green­berg, Vic­to­ria Wells Arms, Sid­ney Bok­er, and Tamar Rydzinski
• Adult edi­tors and agents Ask My Any­thing pan­el with Sab­ri­na Taitz and Geu­la Geurts
• The Impor­tance of Writ­ing Jew­ish Iden­ti­ty for Wide Read­er Audi­ences with authors Nora Gold, Sarah Sas­soon, Lisa Williamson, Rosen­berg, and Hei­di Sher­tok, mod­er­at­ed by Lynne Golodner
• Jew­ish-Arab Con­nec­tions in the Latin Amer­i­ca Dias­po­ra with Analucía Lopezrevore­do and Sonia Daccarett
• Writ­ing Between Ques­tion Marks: Mag­ic and Mys­tery and Jew­ish Sto­ry­tellers with authors Zee­va Bukai, Lee Matthew Gold­berg and Jan­ice Eidus, mod­er­at­ed by Ruth Knafo Setton
• Jew­ish Writ­ers Beyond Books: How to Con­nect And Pro­mote in 2025, with Tali Cohen and Kath­leen Schmidt, mod­er­at­ed by Hei­di Rabinowitz
• Being a Writer in the Age of AI with Jane Friedman
• How to Write a Scene with Emi­ly Stone: A Workshop
• Every­body Eats — How Food Can Enhance Your Writ­ing, a Work­shop with Sharon Kurtzman
• Inside Secrets of Book Pub­lish­ing with Sue Shapiro, Rebec­ca Walk­er, Rachel Kahan, and Seth Kugel
• Bless Our Hearts — South­ern Jew­ish Expe­ri­ence as a Guide to Con­flict in Com­mu­ni­ty with authors Rachel Edel­man and Eli­she­va Fox
• Mak­ing Space for Joy in Writ­ing Jew­ish with authors Leigh Shul­man, Tara Ison, Jean Meltzer, mod­er­at­ed by Car­o­line Topperman
• Inside, Out­side: Writ­ing for Judaica and Main­stream Mar­kets with authors Ann Dia­ment Koff­sky, Rena Ross­ner, and Joyce Sweeney, mod­er­at­ed by Leah Cypess
• May Their Mem­o­ry Be a Book: Nav­i­gat­ing Grief in Con­tem­po­rary Amer­i­can Jew­ish Fic­tion with authors Beth Kan­der and Cary Git­ter, mod­er­at­ed by Leah Berkowitz
• Jew­ish Lit­er­ary Orga­ni­za­tions and How They Can Help with Alisa Koyrakh and Rebec­ca Levitan

Addi­tion­al pan­els on Mon­day, Novem­ber 24th will include:

• Every­thing You’ve Ever Want­ed to Know About Short Sto­ries and Antholo­gies with authors Sta­cia Deutsch, Adam Gid­witz, and Joshua Levy, mod­er­at­ed by Hen­ry Herz
• Stronger Togeth­er: Five Jew­ish Authors on Build­ing Mean­ing­ful Com­mu­ni­ties: Why Jew­ish Writer Net­works Mat­ter, How We Found Ours, and How You Can Too with authors Sta­cy Nock­owitz, Elly Swartz, Emi­ly Barth Isler, and Ruth Spiro, mod­er­at­ed by Lau­ra Segal Stegman
• Reimag­in­ing the Shtetl: Writ­ing Jew­ish Inti­ma­cy In and Out of the Home, with authors Eliz­a­beth L. Sil­ver, Nicole Graev Lip­son, and Tova Mirvis, mod­er­at­ed by Eliz­a­beth Silver