2014 FACULTY: Bios & Kudos

EDITOR

Melanie Cecka Nolan

Penguin Random House/Knopf BFYR

Melanie Cecka Nolan is Associate Publishing Director at Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, where she got her start in children’s books more than 20 years ago. She has also worked at Viking Children’s Books (Penguin) and helmed the children’s publishing program at Bloomsbury USA before returning to Random House in 2012. Her books have hit numerous bestseller and awards lists; her acclaimed authors include Rick Yancey, Betsy Byars and Rosemary Wells, as well as Jessica Day George, LeUyen Pham and Michael L. Printz Medal winner Nick Lake. Melanie has also spearheaded new publishing programs for the estates of renowned authors such as Ray Bradbury and Roald Dahl.

Melanie brings a constellation of skills to our workshop—not only editing, but writing and teaching. She served on the faculty board for the MFA in Writing program at Southern New Hampshire University, taught writing workshops with Media Bistro, and holds an MFA in fiction from The New School. She also authored two picture books, Violet Comes to Stay, a New York Times Bestseller, and its sequel, Violet Goes to the Country. Melanie is actively growing her list of middle grade and young adult fiction. She is “really looking forward” to meeting our writers.

“Melanie did it exactly right—in revisions letters, she indicated what could be improved, she asked questions, she drew connections among recurring issues. She wrote clear, multi-paged letters to accompany inline notes, so I understood the bigger suggestions and how the themes connected. If I didn’t like a suggestion, I knew I could find a new solution and we’d talk it out. I loved the revision process with Melanie.” — Ruth McNally Barshaw, author of The Ellie McDoodle Diaries (Bloomsbury USA; Melanie edited four of six books in this series)

AGENT

Scott Treimel

S©ott Treimel NY Agency

Scott Treimel heads the full service S©ott Treimel NY Agency, established 1995. The agency represents exclusively children’s books; it is closed to submissions except by referral and/or from workshop attendees. Scott is interested in a wide range of novel genres. From the beginning (before it was imperative), the agency provided hands-on editorial expertise to refine concepts, fine-tune projects, and pre-wash manuscripts. The agency wants to present editors with the authors’ very best work.

Scott is a former children’s books rights buyer and seller, editor, packager, and more. He is actively seeking new clients; new talent. Like our faculty editor, Scott will offer our enrollees in-depth sessions on craft and style. Scott says our workshop sounds “splendid” and like it will be “a lot of fun.”

“Scott responds promptly and is willing to overturn every stone to find the exact right home for a project. But the sale isn’t everything—for him, it’s about building careers. I’ve also been impressed by Scott’s keen editorial eye and ability to get to the deeper ‘matter’ of both the story and the characters. I’ve been edited by editors from major publishers; Scott certainly can stand toe-to-toe (or adverb to adverb) with them. Thanks to his edits, I have better and richer books.” — Arthur Slade, author of 17 novels for young readers, including award-winners Dust (Wendy Lamb Books), a national bestseller, and The Hunchback Assignments (Random House; four others)

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