Pitch your children’s and YA manuscripts at AFCC Writer’s Pitch!

Make a date with the featured representatives and pitch your unpublished manuscript or book idea for the chance to make your project a reality! Meet publishing professionals from Scholastic Asia, Samir Éditeur, Penguin Random House SEA, Hachette UK and many more at the AFCC 2020 Writer's Pitch on 2 October 2020. 

All applications will go through a vetting process. While best efforts will be made to accommodate all requests, please note that not all applications may be granted an appointment due to limited meeting slots. The assignment of meeting slots will be made based on each application's relevance to what the representatives are looking for.

Successful applicants will be informed of their assigned pitch appointments by mid-September, and will have 10 minutes per pitch session.

Applications for Writer’s Pitch are open to all AFCC 2020 DIGITAL PASS ticket holders (1 Day Digital Pass, 2 Day Digital Pass, 2 Day Digital Pass+) from 17 August to 16 September 2020.

Register via the online form below by 16 September, 2359h (SGT).

Writer’s Pitch Application Form

Featured publishers, editors and literary representatives:

Clelia Gore

Vice President/Literary Manager | Children's and Young Adult 
Martin Literary & Media Management

Clelia Gore is Vice President of Martin Literary & Media Management, where she is also a literary agent. She is currently on an expat stint in Singapore, but calls Seattle, Washington home. She represents authors of children’s and young adult books for the U.S. market, including best-selling and award-winning books.

Looking for: Board books, picture books, chapter books, middle-grade and young adult books, including fiction, nonfiction and graphic novels across all genres.

Daphne Lee

Editor
Scholastic Asia

Daphne Lee is the fiction editor at Scholastic Asia. As a writer, Daphne is interested in Malaysian and Asian myths, legends and fairytales. She recently published Bright Landscapes, a collection of short stories inspired by local supernatural beliefs and folklore. She is currently working on her first novel.

Looking for: Asian characters and settings, but set in the modern world. WWII settings not preferred; stories that draw on Asian myths, legends and folklore, but are essentially set in the modern world; stories that deal with issues that young adults grapple with, including body image and sexuality, racism and sexism; stories that focus on the indegenous people of Asia, and deal with all aspects of their existence.

Joanna El Mir

Editorial Director | Children's Books
Samir Éditeur

Joanna El Mir started working in publishing in 2001 as the Art Director at Samir Éditeur. After winning the British Council's Young Publishing Entrepreneur award in 2006, she made a career shift to an editorial role. For the past 12 years, she has been building the children's book list, publishing original content and translating some of the most renowned children’s authors.

Looking for: Picture books (ages 3+); First Readers (ages 7+, between 1,000 and 1,500 words) - Our Farfelu series which consists of short funny stories where illustrations play a big role, adapted to early independent readers. Middle-grade novels (ages 9+, from 10,500 words) - pre-teens starting to read their first novels where main characters are coming of age. Genres ranging from realistic life events to adventure and fantasy; Young Adult (ages 13+, from 15,000 words) - teenagers evolving to adult life. Genres and themes can be varied. 

Lynette Teo

Assistant Editor 
Epigram Books

Lynette Teo is an assistant editor at Epigram Books. She has an interest in working with authors and illustrators for early reader board books, children’s picture books and middle grade to early young adult novels. Lynette is also a published picture book author, making her debut with the book X and O are B.F.F.s!

Looking for: Picture books with author-illustrators; graphic novels (children/middle-grade); stories that highlight or explore the Singaporean and/or Southeast Asian experience. 

Nora Nazerene Abu Bakar

Associate Publisher
Penguin Random House SEA

Nora Nazerene Abu Bakar joined Penguin Random House (PRH) SEA in 2018. As Associate Publisher, she oversees the editorial direction and shapes the list which comprises English-language adult, children’s fiction and nonfiction formats. PRH SEA has since published children’s titles by well-loved authors such as Josephine Chia, Eva Wong Nava and Don Bosco. Nora started her publishing career with Pearson and subsequently spent 11 years in Marshall Cavendish where she was responsible for growing the profitability of key lists. 

Looking for: General, but also keen to look at content for YA.

Paul Rockett

Publisher | Hachette Children's Group 
Hachette UK 

Paul Rockett has over 20 years’ experience of working in publishing with roles as diverse as art directing, authoring, editing as well as leading imprints within market leading organisations, such as BBC Worldwide, Pearson and OUP. Currently publisher of the educational imprints Franklin Watts and Wayland at Hachette Children’s Group. 

Looking for: Nonfiction; narrative nonfiction (inclusive of picture books); original approaches to educational topics, ranging for 6 -13 years old. 

Sayoni Basu

Consultant
Duckbill Books

Sayoni Basu was the cofounder of Duckbill Books, an indie children's publishing house, which is now an imprint of Penguin Random House India. She has earlier worked in Penguin, Scholastic and OUP. She likes everything about books apart from dusting them.

Looking for: Contemporary realistic novels set in Asia, from chapter books to YA, ideally really funny and/or dealing with subjects relevant to young people today. No mythology or fairytales or anything remotely educational. Especially interested in stories of characters less talked about in contemporary children's books.

Tina Narang

Publisher | HarperCollins Children's Books
HarperCollins India

Tina Narang is the Children’s Publisher at HarperCollins India, having joined in 2017 to launch the children’s imprint, HarperCollins Children’s Books. Previously, Tina was with Scholastic India from 2005-2017. This is her third time at AFCC, the first being in 2015, followed by the more recent one in September 2019.

Looking for: Fiction and non-fiction across age groups, with special focus on Asian stories for young adults in both narrative and graphic novel formats.


Register via the online form below by 16 Sep, 2359h    
Writer's Pitch Application Form