Poets & Writers is proud to highlight past cohorts of Get the Word Out, a publicity incubator for early-career authors. Under the mentorship of an accomplished book publicist, these writers developed and executed publicity strategies to maximize the exposure of their first or second book, reach readers, and create a platform to propel their literary careers.
2025 Fall Fiction Fellows and Publicity Mentor
Hillary Behrman, Denise Derya Brandt, Kim Coleman Foote, Sophia Huneycutt, Rachel León, Kat Lewis, Rajendrani Mukhopadhyay, Radhika Singh, Grace Spulak, and Diana Xin.
2025 Fall Fiction Publicity Mentor
Born and raised in Malaysia, May-Zhee Lim is a writer working on her first novel and a freelance publicist living in New York. During her time with Riverhead Books, she has worked on all kinds of book campaigns, helping launch the careers of debut authors and expand the readership of prize-winning authors including Hernan Diaz, Olga Tokarczuk, James McBride, Masha Gessen, Patricia Lockwood, C Pam Zhang, Claire Vaye Watkins, and Sigrid Nunez, just to name a few. In 2021, she made the Publishers Weekly Star Honoree list for her creative, out-of-the-box publicity ideas, including a partnership with a New York City bakery to print a short story by Etgar Keret in cake wrapping and an open air, pop-up reading room series around the city.
2025 Poetry Fellows and Publicity Mentor
Adedayo Agarau, Genevieve DeGuzman, Isabella DeSendi, Alison Lubar, Nick Martino, Yamini Pathak, mick powell, Maya Salameh, Kelsey L. Smoot, and Bernardo Wade.
2025 Poetry Publicity Mentor
Morgan LaRocca is the publicist at Milkweed Editions. Prior to joining Milkweed in 2022 they worked as a freelance publicist, publicity associate at Graywolf Press and served as marketing and publicity intern at Tin House Books. They are a graduate of Towson University and a proud Baltimorean.
2025 Winter Fiction Cohort and Publicity Mentor
Yu-Mei Balasingamchow, Roohi Choudhry, Kerry Donoghue, Lacey N. Dunham, Shasta Grant, Laura Venita Green, Benedict Nguyễn, Miranda Schmidt, and Daniel Tam-Claiborne.
2025 Winter Fiction Publicity Mentor
Jennifer Huang is a freelance publicist at Cento Lit, a farmer on the Oregon Coast, and the author of Return Flight. Previously a publicist at Riverhead Books and The Shipman Agency, they were the co-publicist for R.O. Kwon's The Incendiaries, Kamala Shamsie's Home Fire, Juli Berwald's Spineless, and Samanta Schweblin's Fever Dream, and assisted in publicity efforts for books by Paula Hawkins, Elizabeth Gilbert, Brit Bennet, and Junot Diaz. As a freelancer, they worked on Shelley Wong’s As She Appears, Jess Rimington and Joanna L. Cea’s Beloved Economies, Maya C. Popa’s Wound Is the Origin of Wonder, Khalisa Rae’s Ghost in a Black Girl's Throat, and Steve Majors’ High Yella. Jennifer enjoys working with authors and books that don't neatly fit into one box and helping authors "do" publicity in a way that feels true to themselves. In their spare time, Jennifer enjoys walking wherever they can, eating popsicles, and learning new crafts.
2024 Poetry Cohort and Publicity Mentor
Nadia Alexis, Brent Ameneyro, Lory Bedikian, Saba Keramati, Eduardo Martinez, Matthew Nienow, Megan Pinto, Dorsia Smith, Dorinda Wegener, and Jordan Windholz.
2024 Poetry Publicity Mentor
Morgan LaRocca is the publicist at Milkweed Editions. Prior to joining Milkweed in 2022 they worked as a freelance publicist, publicity associate at Graywolf Press and served as marketing and publicity intern at Tin House Books. They are a graduate of Towson University and a proud Baltimorean.
2023 Fiction Cohort and Publicity Mentor
Alisa Alering, Bruna Dantas Lobato, Christina Cooke, Esinam Bediako, Jessie Marshall, Kathya Alexander, Lena Valencia, Lynn Stansbury, Marissa Higgins, and Parul Hinzen.
2023 Fiction Publicity Mentor
Born and raised in Malaysia, May-Zhee Lim is a writer and freelance publicist living in New York. During her time with Riverhead Books, she has worked on all kinds of book campaigns, helping launch the careers of debut authors and continuing to expand the readership of prize-winning authors including Hernan Diaz, Olga Tokarczuk, James McBride, Masha Gessen, Patricia Lockwood, C Pam Zhang, Claire Vaye Watkins, and Sigrid Nunez, just to name a few. In 2021, she made the Publishers Weekly Star Honoree list for her creative, out-of-the-box publicity ideas, including a partnership with a New York City bakery to print a short story by Etgar Keret on their cake wrappers and a curated, open air, pop-up reading room series around the city. She was previously an executive assistant at PEN America. Currently, May-Zhee is at work on her first novel and moonlighting as a communications consultant for EMPAC, a center for experimental media and performing arts, and Cento Lit, a literary/nonprofit consultancy agency started by Katie Freeman.
2023 Poetry Cohort and Publicity Mentor
Ashia Ajani, Caitlin Cowan, Ae Hee Lee, Sebastian Merrill, Sahar Muradi, Olatunde Osinaike, Dimitri Reyes, Leslie Sainz, Violet Spurlock, and Jorrell Watkins.
2023 Poetry Publicity Mentor
Morgan LaRocca is the publicist at Milkweed Editions. Prior to joining Milkweed in 2022 they worked as a freelance publicist, publicity associate at Graywolf Press and served as marketing and publicity intern at Tin House Books. They are a graduate of Towson University and a proud Baltimorean.
2022 Fiction Cohort and Publicity Mentor
Federico Erebia, Kristen Gentry, Anita Gail Jones, Chin-Sun Lee, Magogodi Makhene, Mark Ernest Pothier, Shannon Sanders, Brenda Wilson, Lauren Yero, and Ada Zhang.
2022 Fiction Publicity Mentor
Get the Word Out will launch in November 2022 with the program’s inaugural cohort of debut fiction authors. The Publicity Mentor for this group will be Lauren Cerand.
Cerand has twenty years of experience running her own thriving global communications consultancy, driven by an intensive personal focus on each client’s needs and desires, a vast network of relationships, and unparalleled expertise and ingenuity. She helps creative professionals to connect with audiences and inspire community, often through the lens of media. Cerand has advised writers, artists, publishers, and media and cultural organizations that are household names throughout her career and guided many more that are still finding their path. After two decades in New York and a year in Florence, Italy, she now lives in Baltimore and continues to work internationally. For more information, visit LaurenCerand.com.