Reframing Cultural Assumptions: Women, Identity, Diversity, and the Road Ahead for Publishing

Moderated by Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Publishing Perspectives, US

BA, MA, MFA, is Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives. Anderson is a veteran newsman with CNN, CNN.com, and CNN International–as well as the Village Voice, the Dallas Times Herald, The Bookseller and others. He was named London Book Fair’s International Trade Press Journalist in the 2019 International Excellence Awards. Anderson has also worked as a diplomat with the United Nations, and served as Executive Media Producer of INDEX: Design to Improve life, the Danish award for humanitarian design. Anderson is a frequent speaker on the international publishing stage in Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, and the Middle East.

Mitzi Angel - President and Publisher, Farrar Straus & Giroux, US

Mitzi Angel is president and publisher of Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Previously, she was the publisher of Faber and Faber in London. The authors she has worked with include Sheila Heti, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Rachel Cusk, Amia Srinivasan, Garth Greenwell, Ben Lerner, Sally Rooney, Yiyun Li, and Siddhartha Mukherjee.

Photo by Amanda Hakan

Natalie Jerome - Literary Agent, Curtis Brown, UK

Natalie Jerome has worked as a Publisher and Acquiring Editor for some of the UK’s most prominent publishing houses before making the move across to literary agenting. Described by The Bookseller as a ‘brand publishing wizard’ she has acquired and published bestsellers from numerous high-profile authors. As a literary agent at Curtis Brown, her clients include the actor David Harewood and Sir Lenny Henry. In her first 12 months as an agent, she was shortlisted as Literary Agent of the Year at the 2021 British Book Awards and in 2016 Natalie was highly commended for her work at the National Business in the Community Race Equality Awards.

Photo © Kamila Jarczak

Vera Michalski-Hoffman - President and Publisher, Libella Publishing Group, Switzerland/France

In 1986, Vera Michalski founded Les Editions Noir sur Blanc aimed at building bridges between the people of Europe across the iron curtain. In 2000 the Libella group started including a dozen of imprints in Switzerland, France and Poland that publish about 450 books a year in French, Polish and English covering fiction, nonfiction and illustrated books (drawing and photography). In 2004, she created the Jan Michalski Foundation, whose mission is to support literary creation and the practice of reading.

Photo © Anouch Abar

Veronique Cardi, General Manager, Editions JC Lattès

Véronique Cardi started her career in the publishing industry in 2005 at Editions Philippe Rey, before joining Le Seuil and then Belfond. In 2012 she launched Editions Les Escales then became Managing Director of Le Livre de Poche, which took the leadership of the mass market publishers in France. Since 2019, she is CEO of Editions Jean-Claude Lattès (Dan Brown, John Grisham, Giacometti-Ravenne, Nina Bouraoui, Olivia Ruiz, etc.), Editions du Masque (Agatha Christie, Richard Osman, Nicolas Lebel), and the imprint La Grenade devoted to new voices.