Katharine Sands is a literary agent with the Sarah Jane Freymann Agency in New York City. She is the agent provocateur of Making the Perfect Pitch: How to Catch A Literary Agent’s Eye. She has been a guest speaker on writing and publishing for Poets and Writers, The American Society of Journalists and Authors, UCLA, New York University, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Katharine has worked with a varied list of authors who publish a diverse array of books including fiction, memoir and non-fiction. Among the books she represents are: The Apothecary’s Curse, by Bram Stoker Award nominee Barbara Barnett; Girl Walks Out of a Bar, a memoir by Lisa Smith that was featured by People Magazine as Notable Nonfiction; and I'm Speaking: Every Woman's Guide to Finding Her Voice and Using It Fearlessly by Jessica Doyle Mekkes.

Katharine likes books that have a clear benefit for readers’ lives in categories of food, travel, lifestyle, home arts, beauty, wisdom, relationships, parenting, and fresh looks, which might be at issues, life challenges or popular culture. When reading fiction she wants to be compelled and propelled by urgent storytelling, and hooked by characters. For memoir, femoir, and himoir, she likes to be transported to a world rarely or newly observed.

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Damon West, M.S. Criminal Justice, is a college professor, internationally known keynote speaker, 3 x Wall Street Journal bestselling author and former crime boss in Dallas, who was sentenced to Life in prison for Organized Crime.

USA Today calls him the “modern day Shawshank Redemption and the most in-demand speaker in America.”

At 20 years old, he was a Division 1 starting quarterback at the University of North Texas, when he suffered a career ending injury and turned to hardcore drugs to cope with disappointments of life.

After graduation, he worked in the United States Congress and trained to be a stockbroker for United Bank of Switzerland (UBS).

One day at UBS, he was introduced to methamphetamines; he became instantly hooked—and the lives of so many innocent people would forever be changed by the choices he made in order to feed his insatiable meth habit.

After a fateful discussion during his incarceration with a seasoned convict, Damon had a spiritual awakening. He learned that, like a coffee bean changing with the application of heat and pressure, he was capable of changing the environment around him. Armed with a program of recovery, a renewed faith, and a miraculous second chance at life, Damon emerged from over seven years of prison a changed man.

On parole in Texas until 2073, his story is one of hope, redemption, grit and the resilience of the Human spirit.

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Christina Lopez is an assistant editor at St. Martin’s Press, where she started as an intern in 2021 and worked her way up. In her time at SMP, she has worked on a wide array of books in several genres and with several amazing authors including Katherine Center, Kristin Hannah, and Sally Hepworth. She loves books that make her feel big emotions and is passionate about giving a voice to writers of underrepresented backgrounds.

Christina graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a double major in English and International Relations. Aside from reading, she enjoys spending time with her cat, Nova and watching bad reality TV. Originally from the sunny border town of El Paso, she currently lives in Austin, Texas.

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