Presenters and Instructors for the 2026
in-person Colorado Writing Workshop
Chuck Sambuchino (@chucksambuchino) is a freelance editor, bestselling book author, and former longtime staffer for Writer’s Digest Books.
For many years he edited the GUIDE TO LITERARY AGENTS and the CHILDREN’S WRITER’S & ILLUSTRATOR’S MARKET. His Guide to Literary Agents Blog was one of the largest blogs in publishing, and he wrote the platform guidebook CREATE YOUR WRITER PLATFORM.
He is the lead director of Writing Day Workshops writers conferences, and he has taught at more than 175 writers conferences throughout his career. He is the co-coordinator of the Colorado Writing Workshop.
His humor book, HOW TO SURVIVE A GARDEN GNOME ATTACK, was optioned by Sony Pictures. Chuck’s books have been mentioned in Reader’s Digest, USA Today, the New York Times, The Huffington Post, Variety, New York Magazine, Buzzfeed, Mental Floss,New York magazine, and many more media outlets.
All his latest books are about pickleball, including ULTIMATE PICKLEBALL, a 2026 tear-off desk calendar due out in August 2025 (Sellers Publishing). His picture book, GOODNIGHT, PICKLEBALL, released from Hachette in August 2025, as was carried in Target, and hit the USA Today bestseller list.
He is a successful freelance editor of queries, synopses, and manuscripts—seeing dozens of clients get agents or book deals following his consultations/edits. He loves meeting new writers.
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Sara Megibow is a literary agent and founder of Megibow Literary.
At the 2026 event, she is teaching a class. She is also meeting writers one-on-one.
Sara is the President and Senior Literary Agent of Megibow Literary Agency. She has worked in publishing since 2006 and represents New York Times bestselling authors including Margaret Rogerson, Roni Loren, Jason M. Hough and Jaleigh Johnson. Sara specializes in launching debut authors and working on long-term career development and profit strategy with them. She is a graduate of Northwestern University with degrees in Women’s Studies, Gender Studies and American History. Always LGBTQIA+ Friendly!
“I represent authors who write picture books (fiction and nonfiction/ all sub-genres), middle grade (all sub-genres), young adult (all sub-genres), adult romance (all sub-genres) and science fiction/ fantasy/ horror for the adult market.”
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By day, Aaron Hickman teaches high school math, making it accessible and engaging for his students.
By night, he wrangles weird, eclectic ideas into quirky, whimsical (and occasionally scary) middle grade and young adult stories.
He is co-regional advisor for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators as well as being the chapter’s conference coordinator.
At the 2026 event, he is teaching a class.
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Rachelle Gardner is a literary agent and president of Gardner Literary.
At the 2026 event, she is teaching. She is also meeting with attendees one-on-one. (See her wishlist here.)
As a literary agent since 2007, Rachelle has negotiated 300+ contracts with more than 20 publishers, and worked with more than 200 authors to bring their books to publication and build their careers.
She’s been in publishing since 1995, worked in-house at two publishing companies, and edited books published by Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, and many more. Nowadays she feels lucky to work at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.
When she’s not working, you can usually find her out hiking the local trails, riding her bike, haunting bookstores, or having coffee at Starbucks.
She is taking pitches on behalf of her whole agency.
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Broadleaf Writers Association Founder & Executive Director Zachary Steele is the author of four novels, including The Weight of Ashes, nominated for Georgia Author of the Year in 2021, and Perfectly Normal (March 2024).
He has been featured in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Publishers Weekly, Writer’s Magazine, Shelf Awareness and City Lights with Lois Reitzes on NPR. Currently, he is hard at work on The Fallen Hero, the first in a series of fantasy novels. You can follow his ramblings on writing and life at http://zacharysteele.com/.
At the CWW, Zachary is serving as WDW’s onsite facilitator. Meet him at the registration area. He is also teaching a class.
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Chelsey Emmelhainz was formerly a literary agent with Copps Literary Services. (She stopped agenting at the end of 2025.)
At the 2026 event, Chelsey is not open to book pitches. However, she is happy to take meetings with attendees who want their pitch reviewed, a quick query letter critique, or AMA (“ask me anything”) questions answered. She is also teaching.
Chelsey joined Copps Literary Services in 2021 after a decade as an editor of upmarket fiction and nonfiction. Upon graduating from the Denver Publishing Institute, she got her start at HarperCollins with William Morrow and Avon Books. She was most recently a senior editor at Crooked Lane Books.
As an editor, Chelsey worked on projects that cross the literary landscape: from Amish romance to upmarket thrillers and everything in between. Yet her true passion lies in helping authors refine their narratives to create compelling stories and advocating on their behalf. An editorial agent, she works tirelessly with authors to polish their work into commercial projects aimed at catching the eye of editors and publishers.
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Angie Hodapp is the Director of Literary Development at Nelson Literary Agency.
At the 2026 event, Angie is acting as a scout and taking one-on-on meetings with writers on behalf of the entire agency. She is also teaching. She her wishlist here.
She holds a BA in English and secondary education from the University of Northern Colorado and an MA in English and communication development from Colorado State University.
A graduate of the Publishing Institute at the University of Denver, she has worked in professional writing, editing, and education for more than twenty years. A frequent presenter at writing conferences and events, and the author of Query Craft and Do You Need a Literary Agent, she loves helping writers improve their craft and learn about the ever-changing world of publishing.
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Todd Fahnestock is an award-winning, #1 bestselling author of fantasy for all ages and winner of the New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age Award. (Find all his books here.)
Threadweavers and The Whisper Prince Trilogy are two of his bestselling epic fantasy series. He is a founder of Eldros Legacy—a multi-author, shared-world mega-epic fantasy series—three-time winner of the Colorado Authors League Award for Writing Excellence, and two-time finalist for the Colorado Book Award for Tower of the Four: The Champions Academy (2021) and Khyven the Unkillable (2022). His passions are great stories and his quirky, fun-loving family. When he’s not writing, he travels the country meeting fans, talks philosophy with his son, plays board games with his wife, dissects movies with his daughter, and plays to the point of bruises with Galahad the Weimaraner.
At the event, he is teaching a class.
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Author Chris Mandeville writes science fiction and fantasy, as well as nonfiction for writers, plus a children’s picture book about her service dog, Oski. To date she has nine published works. See all her books here.
After growing up in California and graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, Chris married a U.S. Air Force officer and moved from state to state, as well as to British Columbia, before settling in Colorado. She now lives in the woods of the Rocky Mountains with her family.
Chris has taught writing classes and workshops for more than 15 years on a variety of topics including writer’s block, character building, backstory, pitching, improv writing, and building better beginnings. For more information about Chris teaching a workshop or giving a presentation at your school, book club, or other event, click here.
At the 2026 event, she is teaching a class.
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Jillian Boehme is an author. (See her books here.)
Jillian was known for many years to the online writing community as Authoress, hostess of Miss Snark’s First Victim, a blog for writers. She is an author of YA fantasy and science fiction, a freelance editor, and a staunch defender of the Oxford comma.
In the past, she has been a choir director, a music teacher, and a singer with the Nashville Symphony Chorus. She’s been married to her husband for over three and a half decades and absolutely loves to encourage and inspire other writers.
At the event, she is offering add-on manuscript critiques for attendees.
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Victoria Griffin is an author and developmental editor.
Victoria is an East Tennessee author and freelance editor. She loves dark chocolate, dark coffee, and darker literature.
At the event, she is offering add-on manuscript critiques for attendees.
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Rosie J. Pova is a multi-published and award-winning children’s book author, poet, writing coach, and speaker. Her picture book, Sunday Rain, was featured in The New York Times and recommended by Parents magazine. The School of Failure: A Story About Success is a Readers’ Favorite Awards silver medal winner and is now available in both China and the USA. Her latest picture book, Sally’s Musical Tale will be released in the spring of 2025.
Rosie loves doing school visits to encourage kids to read, write, create and inspire them to follow their big dreams. In her role as a Writing Coach, Rosie’s has helped many aspiring picture book authors advance their careers and reach their publishing goals through her popular mentorship programs and signature Picture Book Mastery course.
Originally from Bulgaria, Rosie now lives in Texas with her family. At the 2026 event, she is offering add-on manuscript critiques.
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Swati Hegde is a romance and YA author, as well as a freelance editor, mindset coach, and self-proclaimed coffee shop enthusiast. She lives in Bangalore, India, and can often be found at the nearest café with a hot mug of tea or singing her favorite songs off-key at karaoke night. She looks forward to a long career bringing Indian stories and voices to light.
Swati is represented by Rachel Beck at Liza Dawson Associates. Her debut romance novel Match Me If You Can is out now from Penguin Random House, with forthcoming books Can’t Help Faking in Love releasing in February 2025 and As Long as You Loathe Me releasing in 2026.
Find her on Instagram @SwatiHegdeAuthor and Twitter @SwatiHWrites.
At the workshop, Swati is offering add-on virtual manuscript critiques for attendees.
