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Guest Editors

Marcia Wernick: Marcia Wernick is a literary agent at Sheldon Fogelman Agency, Inc., in New York City. The agency represents authors and illustrators on a wide range of children's books spanning all age groups and genres.  Marcia works with both writers and illustrators from emerging talent to award winners and include Ian Schoenherr, Jackie Urbanovic, and Jake Wizner, as well as Mo Willems, Bryan Collier, Katherine Applegate and Conference Coordinator Alexandria LaFaye.

Ben Barnhart: Ben Barnhart is an editor with Milkweed Editions, an independent, literary press in Minneapolis. He works with the books in Milkweed's young readers program, as well as a handful of adult fiction and nonfiction titles. When he's not reading, or editing, you might find him riding his bike on any one of Minneapolis' sixty miles of bike paths, or swimming in one of Minnesota's ten thousand lakes (during the brief week of summer).

Eleni Baja: Eleni Beja is an associate editor at Scholastic, where she assists Editor-at-Large Andrea Pinkney and continues to build her own list. Eleni works on fiction and nonfiction, picture books through YA. Titles she’s edited include The Journey That Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey by Louise Borden, illustrated by Allan Drummond and Journeys for Freedom: A New Look at America’s Story by Susan Buckley and Elspeth Leacock, illustrated by Rodica Prato. She was part of the editorial team on The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt and the CSK & Printz Honor winner A Wreath for Emmett Till by Marilyn Nelson, illustrated by Philippe Lardy. Eleni is always on the lookout for new illustration talent.

Jeanne Larsen: Jeannette Larson is executive editor of children’s books at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. In her twenty years with the company, she has edited a wide variety of picture books, fiction, and nonfiction for young readers. She works with such authors and illustrators as Melinda Long, David Shannon, Janet Stevens, Margaret Chodos-Irvine, Eve Bunting, Karen Beaumont, David Catrow, Linda Urban, Gary Soto, and others.

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