To Kindle or Not to Kindle – Digital vs. Print: Careers in Publishing

Learn what it means to work in the publishing sector in a digital world – whether you prefer the feel of a paperback or the convenience of an e-reader! Hear from Humanities alumni on how their degrees helped them build their careers.

	Alison Walker has worked at Amazon for 8 years and is currently the Head of Content Acquisition at Kindle Vella. Before her career at Amazon, Alison earned her Ph.D. from UCLA in English, with specializations in book history and digital humanities.
	Before joining Ayesha Pande Literary, Annie began her career at Folio Literary Management where she had the pleasure of working with debut and seasoned authors alike. At APL, she primarily represents voice-driven literary fiction that plays with genre, though she also takes on nonfiction and poetry on occasion. Her authors include John Paul Brammer, Franny Choi, Jezz Chung, Lilly Dancyger, Carson Faust, Faylita Hicks, Sequoia Nagamatsu, and Cleo Qian. In particular, she is drawn to what she likes to think of as “literary fiction with teeth”—ambitious novels that are daring in their approach that also grapple with the complexities of the world with nuance and finesse. Above all, Annie is always on the hunt for gifted storytelling that stretches its genre to new heights. The daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, she hails from Los Angeles where she earned her B.A. in English from UCLA. She is currently closed to queries. @AnnieAHwang
	Estefania Valencia graduated from UCLA in 2020 with a B.A. in English and a minor in Professional Writing. Her journey in publishing began with internships through the Getty Marrow Undergraduate program and W. W. Norton & Co., followed by a year-long fellowship in the children’s department at Chronicle Books in San Francisco. She now works on picture books as an Editorial Assistant for Random House Studio under the Penguin Random House company. She is based in Los Angeles where her current passions include reading graphic novels, watching cartoon reruns, and spoiling her two cats.
	Jason Araújo is Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Comparative Literature at UCLA. A first-generation college graduate, he holds a B.A. in History, summa cum laude, from the University of San Diego. Upon graduating Jason spent a year teaching kindergarten in Oakland, CA. He was then hired by the Department of Navy and moved to Washington, D.C. where he worked closely with the Office of the Secretary of Defense to execute then-President Obama’s Veterans Employment Initiative (Executive Order 13518.) After several years with the federal government, he moved to New York City where he worked on undergraduate education initiatives at Barnard College/Columbia University, specifically the role-playing curriculum Reacting to the Past. Prior to arriving at UCLA, he completed an M.A. in French and Francophone Studies at San Diego State University. Jason is currently writing a dissertation tentatively titled “Transatlantic Triangulations” that examines the capacity for literature and culture to resist in times of war. Using three literary magazines, two French language publications and one Spanish, during the years leading up to and just after WWII he examines a network of writers and publishers producing work that was committed to the anti-fascist cause. During his time at UCLA, he has felt tremendous honor to receive various awards and distinctions including the Cota V. Robles Fellowship, the Lenart Travel Fellowship, and the university-wide Distinguished Teaching Award (2021).
	David MacFadyen was trained both at the University of London (SSEES) and UCLA, where he received his PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures. Since that time, he has been an avid scholar, promoter, and collector of recordings from East Slavic cultures (Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus). The size of that collection is now approximately two million compositions, constituting a substantial and unique database, recently donated to the Wende Museum in Los Angeles. It is undergoing major archival treatment––specifically with the application of blockchain technology––such that rare audio files may be safely lent in so-called trustless environments to both institutions and individuals. The embedding of AI-assisted metadata is also an essential part of the archive’s improvement.

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