Students play a large role in planning this year's Publishing Festival, which will take place on Oct. 27. Top from left are Angel Hall, Maura McCloskey, faculty member Juliet Giglio and Eli Kubilus; bottom from left are Gio Ferme, Jesse Kushner and Darwin David.
On Oct. 27, four professionals in the publishing industry will provide their unique insights to students at the second Publishing Festival, hosted by SUNY Oswego’s creative writing department.
Juliet Giglio –- associate professor at SUNY Oswego, published author and accomplished screenwriter –- and a committee of students have worked to put the event together, along with financial support from Career Services.
The panel will start at 3 p.m. in the Marano Campus Center auditorium (room 132). The presentation will include an audience question-and-answer session, followed by a reception beginning at 4:30 p.m. During this reception, attendees will be invited to connect and network with the panelists and ask more individualized questions.
The four panelists, three of whom will be visiting SUNY Oswego in person, each have unique insights and experiences to share with students who attend.
“They give up their time for free … they’re really doing this because they want to give back to this community,” Giglio said.
Panelists Alicia Hughes, Vedika Khana and Mia Robertson, are editors in various industries. Hughes, a 2017 Oswego alumna, works as an associate editor at Sleep.com. Khana, a senior editor at Penguin House, finds her focus in graphic novels. Robertson works at Simon & Schuster as an assistant editor for an imprint called Gallery.
The final panelist, Sian-Ashleigh Edwards, is an agent at WME, representing a “collage of nonfiction and fiction across YA and adult,” according to the poster.
Student participation
Students on the planning committee will play an important role on the day of the event, working directly with the panelists to guide them through their day on campus and give them a tour of the area. The students on the committee will also get a chance to speak with the panelists in small groups and ask questions about their own paths.
Students on the committee joined out of interest in the event.
“I’m in [Giglio’s] screenwriting class, and I think we were just having a conversation one day,” Gio Ferme, a junior on the committee, said. “I mentioned that I was a graphic designer.”
Ferme collaborated with another student, Nevaeh Scott, to design the posters advertising the event.
Another group of students are working on outreach.
Maura McCloskey, a junior majoring in creative writing, emphasized the opportunities for connections students will have at the event.
“It’s a great place to go if you want to make connections in the professional world,” they said. “These people are coming here of their own volition and sacrificing their own free time.”
The Publishing Festival will focus on multiple sides of the industry, aimed both at students who are interested in selling their work and those who may be interested in beginning a career in the publishing industry.
“[The event] is about the industry as a whole, because it’s not something that we discuss a lot in our classrooms, because we’re focused on the actual writing,” Giglio said.
“I’m excited to see if this is something I want to do as much as it’s been for years,” said junior Eli Kubilus, who also serves on the outreach team of the committee.
Though the event is hosted by the creative writing department, it is open to students from all majors who may be interested in publishing.
“It very much appeals to those people who are wondering, how would I sell my material, how would I get an agent, how would I write a query letter?” Giglio said.
“It’s a networking opportunity, and I actually went to the first Publishing Festival that occurred and I really loved it,” said Angel Hall, a senior on the committee.
The first Publishing Festival took place two years ago and this will be its second occurrence. Giglio said that she aims to have the event take place every two years.
For more information, email juliet.giglio@oswego.edu.
–- Written by Mackenzie Shields of the Class of 2024
Students Gio Ferme and Nevaeh Scott designed the posters promoting this year’s Publishing Festival, which will take place on Oct. 27.