Do you have an idea for a book? A manuscript you're trying to publish? This is your chance to put your creativity to the test! Come give a one-minute elevator pitch to a panel of experienced editors and agents for real-time Shark Tank-style feedback, or just come to watch how it’s done! Our judges will be editor Brenda Copeland (aka Ms. Wonderful), agent Johanna Castillo (Writers House) and agent Anjali Singh (Ayesha Pande).

Register on Zoom. Pay What You Will (Venmo @paragraphny or PayPal info@paragraphnhy.com)

Johanna Castillo joined Writers House Literary Agency as a Senior Literary Agent in 2018. A seasoned professional in the publishing industry, Johanna was formerly Vice President & Executive Editor at Atria Books/Simon and Schuster and Editorial Director of Atria Español for nearly fifteen years. In that role, she acquired and edited forty-one New York Times bestsellers by multiple national and international bestselling authors. Some of the authors she represents are: Isabel Allende, Leila Meacham, Armando Lucas Correa, Laura Lee, Reyna Grande, Zetta Elliot, Lauren Martin, Tina Lifford, Justin Baldoni, Diana Giovinazzo, Anita Abriel and others.

Anjali Singh is an agent at Ayesha Pande Literary. In her twenty years in publishing, she has worked as a literary scout, as an editor at Vintage Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Simon & Schuster, and as Editorial Director at Other Press. Some of her recent and forthcoming projects include Bridgett Davis' acclaimed memoir The World According to Fannie Davis: My Mother's Life in the Detroit Numbers; Michigan MFA and Hopwood Award-winner Nawaaz Ahmed's debut novel and historian Rebecca Hall's graphic memoir Wake: The Hidden History of Women-led Slave Revolts. As a literary agent, she is looking for new voices, character-driven fiction or non-fiction works that reflect an engagement with the world around us, memoirs, MG and YA literature and graphic novels for all ages.