We all know some of the greatest opening sentences of world literature, but beyond the first sentence, the first page is a writer’s best shot at engaging a reader. Noted literary agent Ann Rittenberg will open this workshop with a discussion of some of the best first pages from English literature before a close read of participants’ first pages of their works in progress. Ann will offer publishing insider insights on what editors look for when they sit down to read an unpublished novel. Participants will be asked to read the selected published first pages in advance and to bring their own first pages.
Note: The first page of a published book never starts all the way at the top of the page, and neither should yours! Bring in a double-spaced first page that starts about a third of the way down the sheet, and we’ll take it from there.
After working as a book editor, Ann Rittenberg started agenting at a large New York literary agency, where she worked with authors Pat Conroy (The Prince of Tides), Hedrick Smith (The Power Game), and Jan Morris (Conundrum). On her own since 1992, she represents Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Shutter Island, Gone Baby Gone, and Live By Night), C.J. Box (Edgar winner Blue Heaven and the #1 New York Times bestselling Joe Pickett mystery series), Paul Doiron (Camden author of the Mike Bowditch series of game warden mysteries), spy novelist Dan Fesperman (Pariah; Safe Houses), art historian Avis Berman (Lichtenstein: The Impossible Collection; My Love Affair With Modern Art), bestselling humorist Matt Kracht (The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America; The Worst Birds Ever), the late great Loren Pope and his perennially selling Colleges That Change Lives, the estate of former Surry resident Jan Willem van de Wetering, and other writers of fiction and nonfiction. Her eponymously named independent literary agency is located in lower Manhattan, and she lives part of the year in Sedgwick.
