Apr 11-12: Meet the Editors and Agent
Emory faculty are invited to Meet the Editor and Agent, an annual event that brings experts in publishing to campus, sponsored by the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence. Please join us on for an illuminating panel discussion and Q&A session with Patrick Allen, acquisitions editor, University of Georgia Press; Walter Biggins, executive editor, University of Georgia Press; and Rob McQuilkin of Massie & McQuilkin, Literary Agents (New York). Our three expert guests will discuss trends and expectations for faculty authors in the current environment of scholarly publishing, focusing in particular on finding the right press for your book project.
Meet the Editors and Agent
Tuesday and Wednesday, Apr 11-12, 2017
Emory faculty are invited to Meet the Editor and Agent, an annual event that brings experts in publishing to campus, sponsored by the Center for Faculty Development and Excellence. Please join us on for an illuminating panel discussion and Q&A session with Patrick Allen, acquisitions editor, University of Georgia Press; Walter Biggins, executive editor, University of Georgia Press; and Rob McQuilkin of Massie & McQuilkin, Literary Agents (New York). Our three expert guests will discuss trends and expectations for faculty authors in the current environment of scholarly publishing, focusing in particular on finding the right press for your book project.
Public Panel Discussion
Tuesday, April 11 | 4:00 pm
Winship Ballroom, DUC
Visiting editors and literary agent will discuss the changing landscape of scholarly publishing, current trends, and how to find the right press for your project.
Individual Consultations
Wednesday, April 12 | scheduled throughout the day
Faculty authors will have opportunities to meet one-on-one with Mr. Allen, Mr. Biggins, or Mr. McQuilkin during the day of Wednesday, April 12, to discuss individual projects and proposals. This is a tremendous opportunity to make an impression and connection that will help faculty get their work into publication. To meet with one or the other, please submit a short summary or abstract of your book project to Allison Adams (aadam02@emory.edu) no later than April 3. Our visiting editors and agent will review the summaries before their visit to campus. This brief description of your book should be two pages maximum and include some abbreviated biographical information. Please also include contact information. A limited number of these slots are available and they tend to fill up quickly, so make your appointment request early (first come, first served).
Biographies
Patrick Allen is acquisitions editor at the University of Georgia Press, specializing in "trade" titles intended for general (non-specialist) readers. He works on book series with the Southern Foodways Alliance, Georgia River Network, and the Library of American Landscape History. Before joining UGA Press, he co-founded Hill Street Press, a small press focusing on titles of regional interest.
Walter Biggins is an executive editor at the University of Georgia Press. His writing has been published in RogerEbert.com, The Quarterly Conversation, Glide Magazine, Bookslut,The Baseball Chronicle, and other periodicals. With Daniel Couch, he is the author of the forthcoming book, Bob Mould’s Workbook (Bloomsbury, 2017).
A graduate of Phillips Academy and Columbia University, Rob McQuilkin (agent) started out in publishing at Warner Books, where he acquired the paperback rights to books including Primary Colors, by Anonymous (Joe Klein). He left Warner Books for Anchor Books/Doubleday, where, as Editor, he acquired books by and/or worked closely with writers including Anita Hill (Speaking Truth to Power), Phillip Lopate (Totally, Tenderly, Tragically), and Lois Gould (Mommy Dressing), also acquiring the paperback rights to bestsellers such as Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air. Rob cut his teeth as an agent while working with Ike Williams and Jill Kneerim at The Palmer & Dodge Agency (later known as The Hill & Barlow Agency and then Kneerim & Williams at Fish & Richardson), before leaving to start his own agency, which, from 2003 to 2016 was known as Lippincott Massie McQuilkin and, as of January 2017, has been Massie & McQuilkin, Literary Agents.
Among the agency's clients are Roxane Gay; Kelly Link; Peter Ho Davies; Dan Chaon; Amber Dermont; and Lydia Millet. Rob himself specializes in fiction, memoir, history, and cultural criticism. Among his own clients within the agency are: Pulitzer Prize-winner and Two-term U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey; Internationally bestselling and prizewinning novelist Nickolas Butler; Director of African American Studies at Emory Carol Anderson; Pulitzer Prize-winning Essayist, Poet and Novelist Annie Dillard; PEN Open Award-winning poet and Director of the NYPL's Schomburg Center Kevin Young; Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet and Essayist Gregory Pardlo; and National Jewish Book Award-winner Shulem Deen, whom The Jewish Week has called "The poet laureate of ex-Chasidim." He also represents literary estates including those of Barbara Tuchman and Eudora Welty.