About

Sean has been an editor at Farrar, Straus and Giroux since 2011, and is also the co-founder and publisher of FSG Originals, FSG’s noted line of paperback and digital originals. He previously worked as an Executive Editor and Online Creative Director at Riverhead Books, as an editor at Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, and at Arcade Publishing. He has worked with such writers as Sloane Crosley, John Darnielle, Junot Díaz, Warren Ellis, Nuruddin Farah, Gorillaz, Nicola Griffith, Aleksandar Hemon, Marlon James, Walter Mosley, Tyler Perry, the RZA, George Saunders, Tamara Shopsin, Robin Sloan, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Héctor Tobar, Ellen Ullman, Jeff VanderMeer, and Hideo Yokoyama. Sean was born and raised in southern California and now lives in New York City with his wife and young son.

Daphne came to Farrar, Straus and Giroux after more than fifteen years at Amazon.com. During her tenure there as Editorial Director in Books, her team developed and curated the Best Books programs and launched the blog Omnivoracious. In her roles as Editor-in-Chief and Publisher for Amazon Publishing, Daphne launched and developed core genre imprints, managed acquisitions across all categories, including genre, literary fiction, and children’s books, and created Amazon’s first digital literary journal, Day One. She publishes Ryan Gattis, Liska Jacobs, Araminta Hall, Kristi Coulter, Shirley Barrett, Katrina Carrasco, Rachel Selfon, Andy Davidson, and Sara Sligar, among others. Daphne was born in New York, but lives in Seattle and works in New York.

Emily is the Director of FSG Originals. She publishes Lucia Berlin, Amelia Gray, Lindsay Hunter, Catherine Lacey, and Laura van den Berg, among others. Prior to FSG she worked at Riverhead Books with Sean McDonald. Emily lives in Petaluma, California, with her family. She is a Sagittarius.

Naomi spent five years working in independent publishing in Chicago, where she ran the small press Curbside Splendor. She also edited for featherproof books, and organized numerous reading series and book fairs. She established Book Fort, a non-profit that advocates for community among small presses and collaborates with the annual Pitchfork Music Festival. After many years crusading for publishing communities outside of New York, she in fact moved to Brooklyn (and, admittedly, likes it a lot). Her work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Bookslut, Newcity, and elsewhere.

Danny Vazquez is from Queens, New York. He’s worked at an international airport, a multinational coffeehouse, and a series of book publishers. He’s interested in in genre-bending narratives representing strong, diverse characters and bold, progressive ideas.

Jackson grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from the University of Michigan. He publishes Fernando A. Flores, Brontez Purnell, Tom Grattan, and Sarah Schulman, among others; he’s interested in challenging and bold queer narratives, speculative fiction, coming-of-age epics, compelling narrative and critical nonfiction, and helping uplift overlooked and diverse writers, stories, and perspectives. His reviews, profiles, and essays have appeared in The Ringer, them., Pitchfork, i-D, The FADER, W. and elsewhere. He likes parks, Wikipedia holes, the sound of David Attenborough’s voice, rap trivia, and cashews.

Lydia Zoells was born in Geneva, Switzerland but grew up in Chicago, IL. Prior to joining the editorial team at MCD×FSG, she was an assistant at The Wylie Agency. She has also worked in a yarn shop, in university administration, and as a copyeditor.