2021 Memoir & Nonfiction Editors & Agents

Helen Atsma

Last updated: January 4, 2021
Helen Atsma (she/her) joined Ecco in December of 2019 as VP, Editorial Director. She oversees the Ecco editorial team and primarily acquires literary and book club fiction, along with memoir and some narrative nonfiction. The writers she works with include Rumaan Alam, Nicole Chung, Patrick deWitt, Andrew J. Graff, Juliet Grames, Elizabeth McCracken, Ivy Pochoda, Anthony Veasna So, Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, David Heska Wanbli Weiden, Kevin Wilson, and Laura Zigman, among others. Previously, she was Editorial Director at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and she has also worked at Grand Central Publishing, Henry Holt, and Little, Brown.

Michael V. Carlisle

Last updated: October 17, 2023

Michael Carlisle, a founder of InkWell Management, has been involved with the Community of Writers for many years. His fiction and nonfiction client list includes prize-winning as well as debut authors. A former director of the Association of Author’s Representatives, a not-for-profit organization of independent literary and dramatic agents, Michael is an active member of PEN. He directs the Nonfiction Program of the Community of Writers and serves on the Board of Directors.  http://inkwellmanagement.com/staff/michael-v.-carlisle

John Parsley

Last updated: January 7, 2021

John Parsley oversees the editorial department of Dutton and its imprints Plume, Caliber, and Tiny Reparations Books, as Editor in Chief/VP, while acquiring a focused list of titles. He serves on the advisory board of the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference and has edited many New York Times bestsellers and prize winners. Forthcoming titles include nonfiction by Oded Galor, Denise Kiernan, Ken Mack, Alan Weisman, and Elizabeth Williamson, and fiction by Jonathan Evison, Jeff Lindsay, and Jason Mott.