2023 Robin Seaman Award Winners

THE ROBIN SEAMAN AWARD

2023 ROBIN SEAMAN AWARD RECIPIENTS

SARA FAN

Sara Fan received her MFA in poetry from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and her MFA in creative nonfiction at the University of San Francisco. Her essay collection was shortlisted for the 2020 Graywolf Nonfiction Prize. She is the marketing associate for the University of California Press.

FEATHER FLORES

Feather Flores joined Simon & Schuster / Atheneum Books for Young Readers in 2022 after four years at Chronicle Books. She works on smart, joyful picture books; middle grade romps with coming-of-age themes; and bold, open-hearted YA that reimagines everything our identities can be. Her list encompasses fiction and nonfiction, with an emphasis on stories by, about, and for people from marginalized communities. She was an inaugural recipient of the We Need Diverse Books Internship Grant in 2015.

Feather edits from the San Francisco Bay Area. You can find her expressing endless enthusiasm on Twitter @featherfully and explore more books she loves at featherflores.com.

NUSRAH JAVED

Nusrah started her career in books more than 4 years ago and hasn’t looked back since. Having worked at Book Riot, HarperCollins, and now Hay House, she aims to transform the publishing industry with intention followed by data-driven action. She believes she is in a unique position in the Bay Area, the birthplace of so much modern technology, where she can combine technology with good stories, feeling empowered to bring those stories from and to more people.

KATRYCE LASSLE

Katryce Lassle (they/them) has worked in academic publishing since 2013 and is currently a senior publicist at University of California Press. They hold a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Chicago (2014) and an MSc in Literature and Modernity from the University of Edinburgh (2018). Katryce began their publishing career at the University of Chicago Press and moved to Oakland to join UC Press in 2018, where they collaborate with authors across disciplines and serve on the DEIA committee with a commitment to amplifying underrepresented perspectives in the publishing industry and public conversation.

MIKAELA LUKE

Mikaela is a reader, scholar, and children’s books enthusiast, currently working as a Children’s Marketing Coordinator at Chronicle Books. She first moved to the Bay to attend college at UC Berkeley, where she graduated with a B.A. in English and a minor in Journalism. Besides book publishing, Mikaela has also worked in digital media and tech communications — all before returning to school to receive her M.A. in Children’s Literature from Simmons University. Her work on children’s literature and fantasy has been presented at conferences such as the International Society of Children’s Literature’s Biennial Congress and the Children’s Literature Association’s Annual conference.

RAYA RAHMAN

Raya Rahman is a children's book author and the founder and editor of a bilingual picture book company called Guba Publishing. She works in partnership with other authors, illustrators and non-profit organizations to publish diverse and multicultural children's stories and learning resources. Raya lives in Oakland, California with her husband and their two daughters.

BELLA ROBERTS

Mirabella Roberts, or Bella for short, is currently the Assistant Literary Agent at Idea Architects. Committed to bolstering underrepresented voices in literature, Bella has spent the past six years supporting authors in their explorations of mental health, immigration and displacement, and queerness. As the founder of the non-profit Art to Reduce Mental Health Stigma, Bella has hosted over 50 storytelling events and supported over 100 authors, artists, and community activists in sharing stories that destigmatize mental health. Prior to joining the Idea Architects team, Bella worked to bring immigrant authors' stories to the U.S. as the Community Outreach Coordinator for the Artistic Freedom Initiative (AFI).

Bella is a competing member of the 2023 Berkeley Slam Poetry team. Bella holds a B.A. in Literary Arts and Public Policy from Brown University.