Presenters and Instructors
for the 2024 Online
Ohio Writing Workshop
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Haley Casey is a literary agent with Creative Media Agency.
At the 2024 online OWW, Haley is teaching a class. She is also meeting with attendees for one-on-one virtual pitches.
Haley has always had a special place in her heart for stories, but it was when she wrote her first chapter book in fifth grade that her true love of literature was realized. In 2015, she graduated from The University of Kansas with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing, and that fall, she attended the Denver Publishing Institute. She began her full-time career at Ogden Publications, where she was an editor for four years. There she worked with a variety of authors across multiple magazines, wrote articles, edited podcasts, and even styled photos—anything to add some creativity to her days. In 2020, she interned at Metamorphosis Literary Agency and Creative Media Agency, Inc. before stepping into her role as a associate agent at CMA. She also manages the digital arm of the company. Haley is actively building her list, and is ready to assist her authors in achieving their publishing goals.
Learn about all the genres and categories she seeks on her agent page here.
I especially love anything that focuses on minority voices, including POC, LGBTQ+, disability, and mental health issues. Send me thoughtful and meaningful magical realism for any age group; manuscripts with nuanced character relationships; unique urban fantasies; clever fairytale retellings; and reimagined classics (such as Jane Austen or The Count of Monte Cristo).
I’m not looking for children’s chapter books or graphic novels, and for adults, I’m not the best champion for political thrillers, high fantasy novels, or satire. In nonfiction, please don’t send me biographies, self-help and how-to manuscripts, or religious, scientific, and academic texts.
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Heather Chavez is a published mystery novelist. At the 2024 online OWW, she is offering add-on manuscript critiques for attendees.
Heather is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley’s English literature program and has worked as a newspaper reporter, editor, contributor to mystery and television blogs, and in communications for a major health care organization. She lives with her family and two cat overlords in Santa Rosa, California, where she is at work on her next novel.
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Lindsay Flanagan is an award-winning editor with an MA in English and Creative Writing.
At the 2024 online OWW, she is offering add-on manuswcript critiques for attendees.
Her debut novel, AnnaGrey and the Constellation, was published by Young Dragons Press in August 2023, with two more books about AnnaGrey slated for publication in 2024 and 2025.
She’s edited for traditional publishers, worked for literary agents, and has taught about writing, editing, and publishing at numerous conferences, including Superstars Writing Seminars and Writing Day Workshops. She is a senior editor at Eschler Editing who specializes in developmental and substantive editing.
Her poetry, prose, and short fiction has been featured in several literary magazines such as Soft Cartel, Down in the Dirt, Mused Literary Review, The Penmen Review, The Scarlet Leaf Review, and Page & Spine. She’s also published writing, editing, publishing, and social media advice on industry blogs.
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Brittany J. Thurman writes award-winning books for kids.
At the 2024 online OWW, she is offering add-on virtual manuscript critiques for attendees.
She is the author of Fly, (Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Text) and Fearless: Boulevard of Dreams. Her upcoming works include Forever and Always, illustrated by Shamar Knight Justice (2024), Fearless: The Takeover (2024), The First Library: The True Story of the First Library by and For Black America, illustrated by Cozbi Cabrera (2025) and Come Catch a Dream, illustrated by Islenia Mil (2025). (Find all her books here.)
She holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Bachelor of Art in Theater from Kingston University, London, England. Her plays have been produced in Aspen, Colorado, and in New York City. Brittany is a former children’s early literacy specialist. She lives in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, where she holds tight to her elders, roots, and her childhood home.
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Joel Brigham is the founder of Brigham Editorial, a fiction-editing service that has helped writers find agents and agented authors prepare for submission and publication.
He also is an editorial consultant for The Purcell Agency, a literary agency based out of Chicago, Illinois. As an author, he writes YA contemporary fiction and has two books on submission, both represented by agent Tina P. Schwartz.
He also edits content for Basketball News and spent 12 years covering the NBA as a senior sportswriter for HoopsWorld and Basketball Insiders. He has a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and a master’s degree in English Education and has taught high school English for 18 years.
At the 2024 online OWW, he is teaching a class.
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USA Today bestselling author and Agatha, Anthony, Barry, and Macavity-award finalist Kristi Belcamino writes dark mysteries about fierce women seeking justice.
At the 2024 online Ohio Writing Workshop, she is offering add-on manuscript critiques for attendees.
She is a crime fiction writer, cops beat reporter, and Italian mama who also bakes a tasty biscotti. In her former life, as an award-winning crime reporter at newspapers in California, she flew over Big Sur in an FA-18 jet with the Blue Angels, raced a Dodge Viper at Laguna Seca, and attended barbecues at the morgue.
Her nonfiction writing has appeared in several publications, including the New York Times, Salon, Writer’s Digest, Miami Herald, Chicago Tribune, and the San Jose Mercury News. Kristi now works part-time as a police reporter at the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
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Rebecca Matte is a literary agent with Bradford Literary Agency.
At the 2024 online OWW, Rebecca is teaching a class. (She is not taking pitches.)
Rebecca (she/her) joined Bradford Literary Agency as Contract Manager and agency assistant in 2022 before moving on to take on her own clients. Prior to working at Bradford, she worked as assistant to Executive Agent Laura Rennert at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, where she provided editorial and contract support for a wide array of books across genre and age range. Rebecca began her professional life as an IP and contracts lawyer for several prominent law firms in New York City, and now seeks to use those skills to raise up authors and help them succeed. A writer herself, Rebecca plans to be a highly editorial agent who will work with authors to help them bring their vision to reality on the page.
In general, Rebecca absolutely loves adult and YA science fiction/fantasy and queer romance. But no matter the setting—be it a far off kingdom beset by magic or around the corner in Brooklyn—Rebecca seeks out books that feature diverse, complex characters in deeply rooted relationships, platonic and romantic. A well-crafted romance will make her heart sing, while a beautifully detailed friendship will elevate any book to an instant favorite. She also gravitates towards inherently hopeful stories of self-discovery and reinvention at all ages, particularly those that center questions of gender and sexuality. She tries to bring magic to every moment of life, and loves books that do the same.
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Sarah N. Fisk is a literary agent with The Tobias Literary Agency.
At the 2024 online OWW event, Sarah is teaching a class, and also meeting virtually with attendees for one-on-one pitches.
Sarah is a former mechanical engineer who made the switch to publishing in 2011. They have worked in the publishing industry as an editorial assistant, author’s assistant, publicist, and art director. Sarah is a former Pitch Wars mentor, board member, and Agent Liaison. They host the podcast Queries, Qualms, & Quirks and have a passion for spreadsheets.
They love books that challenge societal norms, especially gender norms. They have a personal interest in stories featuring queer characters or characters with disability, neurodiversity, chronic illness, or mental health challenges. Great or complicated sibling relationships are their kryptonite. They also enjoy intriguing villains, mysteries woven into other genres, characters they can’t get out of their head, and smart heroines.
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Swati Hegde is a desi adult romance and YA author. By day, she’s a mindset coach and freelance editor. She is also a self-proclaimed coffee shop enthusiast who lives in Bangalore, India, and can usually be found at the nearest café with a hot mug of tea.
At the 2024 online Ohio Writing Workshop, Swati is teaching a class.
Swati is represented by Rachel Beck at Liza Dawson Associates. Her debut romantic comedy novel MATCH ME IF YOU CAN is out 2024 from Ballantine Bantam Dell, Penguin Random House.
“I write funny romance novels featuring strong heroines, sweet-as-honey heroes, and happily-ever-afters that will make you tear up and laugh all at once. Oh, and did I mention they’re all desi characters? I live in Bangalore, India, and my writing always centers people like me living in my home country. Right now, I’m working on MATCH ME IF YOU CAN, my desi romantic comedy out 2024 from Random House, ft. an aspiring matchmaker heroine, a pub owner hero, and tons of mis-matchmaking and misunderstandings.” See her website here.
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Andrea Hurst is a literary agent and the founder of Andrea Hurst Literary Management.
At the 2024 Ohio online event, Andrea is teaching a class. (She is not taking pitches.)
She is seeking: Women’s Fiction: Upmarket/Book Club, Romance, Historical, Contemporary, Thriller/Suspense/Mystery/Crime, Prescriptive Nonfiction/Memoir, Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy (Space Opera, Military Science Fiction, LitRPG), Cookbooks. “We are always on the lookout for #OwnVoices authors, writing about their own experiences.”
Andrea works as a literary agent with both bestselling and emerging new authors to help polish their book, obtain publication, increase sales, and build their author brand.
Andrea brings over 25 years experience in the publishing industry, including her work as a literary agent. She is also a developmental book editor for publishers and authors, a bestselling Amazon author, an instructor for the MFA creative writing program at the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts, and a webinar presenter for Writer’s Digest. As a literary agent, she selectively represents high profile adult nonfiction and well-crafted genre fiction.
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Amanda Sun is a published YA author and proud Nerdfighter. (Find all her books here.)
At the 2024 online Ohio workshop, Amanda is teaching a class.
Amanda is the author of the Paper Gods series, a YA Fantasy set in Japan about dangerous drawings coming to life. She also wrote HEIR TO THE SKY, which was nominated for the Aurora Award for Best YA Novel of 2016. She has contributed to several award-winning anthologies, including the Asian SF/F anthology WHERE THE STARS RISE, STRANGERS AMONG US, THE SUM OF US, TESSERACTS FIFTEEN, and SHADES WITHIN US.
Many of her novels and short fiction have been Aurora Award nominees and Junior Library Guild selections, as well as Indigo Top Teen Picks and USA Today features. When not reading or writing, Sun is an avid cosplayer and crafter. She has a degree in Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, and will happily write your name for you in Egyptian hieroglyphs if you ask.
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Sabine Berlin is a published author. Her first novel is Sky Full of Stars.
“I am an avid reader, writer, and editor. I have a BA in History, a Certificate of Proficiency in Editing and Document Design, and an M.Ed in Higher Education Leadership. During the day I work in higher education. At night I read, write, edit fiction, and watch K-dramas. Life is good, especially because I share it with my amazing husband, three great kids, and a crazy chocolate lab.”
At the 2024 online OWW, Sabine is teaching a speech.
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Chuck Sambuchino (@chucksambuchino) is a freelance editor, bestselling book author, and former longtime staffer for Writer’s Digest Books. For many years he edited the GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS and the CHILDREN’S WRITER’S & ILLUSTRATOR’S MARKET. His Guide to Literary Agents Blog was one of the largest blogs in publishing, and he wrote the platform guidebook CREATE YOUR WRITER PLATFORM.
He is the co-director of Writing Day Workshops writers conferences, and he has taught at more than 175 writers conferences throughout his career. At the 2024 online OWW, Chuck is offering add-on query critiques for attendees.
His humor book, HOW TO SURVIVE A GARDEN GNOME ATTACK, was optioned by Sony Pictures. Chuck’s books have been mentioned in Reader’s Digest, USA Today, the New York Times, The Huffington Post, Variety, New York Magazine, Buzzfeed, Mental Floss, New York magazine, and many more media outlets.
He is a successful freelance editor of queries, synopses, and manuscripts—seeing dozens of clients get agents or book deals following his consultations/edits. He loves meeting new writers.