YOUR RETREAT WORKSHOP FACILITATOR- JANELL WALDEN AGYEMAN

Janell Walden Agyeman is founder and president of Next Steps Literary Services, LLC, a firm providing consulting services for writers who want to become published authors. For many years she worked as a literary agent with Marie Brown Associates, helping launch the careers of critically acclaimed authors Sharon M. Draper, Tananarive Due, Nnedi Okorafor, Leonard Pitts, Jr., and Trice Hickman, among other authors of fiction and nonfiction for children and adults. Her professional experiences include freelance editing, project management assignments, and editorial posts at Doubleday Publishing Company and the Howard University Press, where she also administered the Howard University Press Book Publishing Institute.

Janell understands how editors and publishers think and grow their operations, and she is passionate about guiding authors to produce the best books possible.

She has been a past-presenter or critique team member for:

• The Atlanta Writers Conference
• Atlanta Writing Workshop
• Spring Mingle Conference (Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators)
• South Florida Writers Association
• Florida Writers Conference
• Ralph Hogges and Benjamin Cowins Writers Group of South Florida
• Missouri Writers Guild Conference
• Clark Atlanta University Writers Workshop Conference
• Multicultural Women’s Development Conference
• The 10th National Conference of African American Librarians.