F117.
Defying Category: How to Sell, Edit, and Market a Genre-Bending Novel
Friday, February 9, 2024
9:00 am to 10:15 am
In this guided discussion, the audience will hear from a diverse array of participants who are currently operating in the genre-bending fiction space: a debut novelist whose novel was pitched as "literary science fiction," two literary agents, and two editors who specialize in books that defy easy categorization. We'll discuss the frustrations of categorization, and how to work around them, as well as how to find and build your own community even when convenient labels don't apply to your work.
Participants
Lucy Carson has been with The Friedrich Agency since 2008, where she works with Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times bestselling authors including Elizabeth Strout, Ruth Ozeki, Leila Mottley, and Karen Joy Fowler. Lucy also manages the book-to-film rights for the entire Friedrich Agency roster.
Annie Hwang is a literary agent at Ayesha Pande Literary where she represents literary fiction with teeth and select nonfiction. Her authors include John Paul Brammer, Franny Choi, Lilly Dancyger, Carson Faust, Faylita Hicks, Sequoia Nagamatsu, Cleo Qian, and Alison C. Rollins.
Silvia Park is a Korean/American writer and assistant professor of English at the University of Kansas. Their work has been published in Black Warrior Review, Tor.com, Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, among others. Their debut novel, Luminous, is forthcoming from Simon & Schuster in 2025.
Amara Hoshijo
Carina Guiterman is a senior editor at Simon & Schuster, where she acquires literary and upmarket fiction, as well as select narrative nonfiction. Her taste in fiction spans many genres: domestic and psychological suspense, coming of age, family sagas, historical fiction, and more.
