SCBWI Agents Panel at Manhattanville College

If your New Year’s resolution involves signing with your dream agent, then this event is for you. We’ve partnered with Manhattanville College to bring a panel of top children’s book agents to Westchester – hosted at historic Reid Castle. We’ll delve into all things publishing with Wendi Gu of Greenburger Associates, Christa Heschke of McIntosh & Otis, and Monica Odom of Odom Media Management in a moderated discussion with time for questions at the end.

Faculty Bios:

Wendi Gu

Wendi is a literary agent at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. She is lucky to work with fiction and nonfiction children’s books across the spectrum, from board books all the way up to young adult. She enjoys lyricism at the line level, sophisticated rhythm, as well as whimsical, absurdist humor. She does not shy away from heavy, darker subjects related to mental health, trauma, and displacement, with a special focus on family stories, and nonfiction books that unearth unexpected corners of history and science. For middle grade and young adult novels, she enjoys voice-driven stories with thoughtful, contemplative, often-flawed characters. She is looking for authors who value intersectionality. Wendi’s clients range from New York Times bestsellers, Pushcart Prize recipients, to various reader’s choice and humor award winners. She grew up in the Chicago suburbs and spent many of her summers with her grandparents in China. With academics as parents, she has always had a nerdy interest in the humanities. You can find her online at @wendilulugu.

Christa Heschke

Christa graduated from Binghamton University with a major in English and a minor in Anthropology. She started in publishing as an intern at both Writers House and Sterling Lord Literistic, where she fell in love with the agency side of publishing. Christa has been at McIntosh and Otis, Inc. in the Children’s Literature Department since 2009 where she is actively acquiring for all age groups in children’s.

Monica Odom

Monica Odom founded her own agency in 2019, after working in publishing for nearly a decade, including roles as agent at Liza Dawson Associates and Bradford Literary Agency. She earned her M.S. in Publishing: Digital & Print Media from New York University, and has a B.A. in English from Montclair State University. She was also schooled in bookselling and event coordinating at her local indie, Watchung Booksellers. Monica serves on the WNDB Walter Grant Judging Committee, and is committed to the holistic and intentional expansion of intersectional diversity and inclusivity in the publishing industry. She is a frequent guest at writers’ conferences and publishing institutes, delivering talks and conducting workshops. She loves to see a personal project turn into something original and surprising.

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