The Foreign Service Journal - January/February 2018

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2018 71 AFSA NEWS Readers,Writers and a Literary Agent Gather to Talk Books On Nov. 16, AFSAwelcomed 17 Foreign Service authors to our headquarters for the third AFSA Book Market. Attend- ees had the chance to meet the authors, ask for writing advice and buy autographed copies of their books. All of the authors had been featured in the November 2016 or 2017 “In Their OwnWrite” edition of The Foreign Service Journal. A highlight of this year’s event was the participation of literary agent and editor Deborah Grosvenor, who counts several former Foreign Service members among her clients. Grosvenor, best known for “discovering” author Tom Clancy, gave a talk about the state of the publishing indus- try today and what it takes to get a book published, and then stayed to meet prospec- tive authors and answer their questions. Ben East, author of Patchworks , said “The best part about the AFSA Book Market was a chance to meet all the authors I’d been reading about, in some case for years, in the FSJ ’s annual Foreign Service book roundup. The Novem- ber FSJ is a highlight for me every fall, and this year it really came alive. I enjoyed grab- bing a bite with the many read- ers and old friends who dropped by. Hearing about the publish- ing industry from veteran literary agent Deborah Gros- venor was eye-opening and reas- suring—she reiterated an important tenet for anyone interested in getting pub- lished: every book that should get published finds its way into the world.” AFSAwould like to thank our Foreign Service author participants: Corrinne Callins, Ben East, Amb. (ret.) Dennis Jett, Judith Heimann, Shawn Kobb, Harry Kopp, Matthew Palmer, Bill Penoyar, Laurie Pickard, Amb. (ret.) Steve Pifer, Amb. (ret.) Charlie Ray, Barry Riley, Louis Sell, Debbie Trent, LeonWeintraub, Dan Whitman and RobinWhite. It’ll soon be time to start next year’s roundup of books by Foreign Service authors. If you have a book coming out and you’d like it featured in the Journal , let us know at journal@afsa.org and send a review copy: The Foreign Service Journal (Attn: ITOW), AFSA, 2101 E St. NW, Wash- ington DC 20037. You can find Ms. Grosvenor’s talk at www.afsa.org/video. n Author Amb. (ret.) Steve Pifer with literary agent Deborah Grosvenor. AFSA/DONNAGORMAN Authors and guests at the 2017 AFSA Book Market. AFSA/DONNAGORMAN Authors Laurie Pickard, Corrinne Callins, Matthew Palmer and Shawn Kobb share their work. Journal staffers Susan Maitra, Dmitry Filipoff and Ed Miltenberger, along with Journal Editorial Board member Priyadarshi “Pri” Sen, greet attendees at the AFSA table. AFSA/DONNAGORMAN AFSA/SHAWNDORMAN