Industry Insider Event: Insights from National Geographic Books

What: Industry Insider Event: Insights from National Geographic Books
When: Thursday, September 22, 2022, 5:00 pm–6:00 pm ET (2:00 pm–3:00 pm PT)
Where: Online via Zoom videoconferencing
Cost: Free for members. $15 for nonmembers.

Insights from National Geographic Books will offer an up-to-the-moment look into the company’s adult and children’s programs, including editorial and publishing directions in the Science, Travel, Animals, and Kids & Family divisions. We will also cover evolving trends in National Geographic books in recent years, influenced by shifts in content and the publishing environment. One recent break-out title is Women: The National Geographic Image Collection, based on 130 years of archival images, 400 photos, and covering more than 50 countries.

Meet the Panel

Susan Tyler Hitchcock, Senior Editor, has been a writer and editor of nonfiction since the 1970s. Her first book was Gather Ye Wild Things: A Forager’s Year (Harper & Row, 1980). Since then, she has written thirteen more books, some personal (a family memoir) and some commissioned (a pictorial history of the University of Virginia). She began freelancing as an editor for National Geographic Books about twenty years ago and has been a full-time book editor at National Geographic since 2007, specializing in science, nature, and large-format illustrated reference, but also working on narrative nonfiction, atlases, and photography books. She lives in the country outside Charlottesville, Virginia. She returned to writing this year with Into the Forest: The Secret Language of Trees (National Geographic, 2022).

Allyson Johnson, Senior Editor, publishes travel, cookbooks, photography, and illustrated reference titles, including the #1 New York Times bestselling Blue Zones Kitchen by Dan Buettner; the top-selling 5,000 Ideas travel series; the NATJA (North American Travel Journalists Association) award-winning 100 Dives of a Lifetime; and Women: The National Geographic Image Collection. Previously, she worked as a lifestyle editor at Every Day Rachael Ray magazine where she covered food, travel, and DIY. Allyson lives in northern Virginia with her husband and two children.

Max Bisantz (he/him), Senior Editor of Global Licensing, National Geographic and National Geographic Kids, previously worked at Penguin Random House as an Editor with Penguin Kids, overseeing the Mad Libs™ series, young adult, picture book, and licensed titles. Max’s edited books have garnered the Pura Belpré Award, Sydney Taylor Book Award, Junior Library Guild Awards, and hit the New York Times Best Sellers List. He also worked at What on Earth Books to create the first line of children’s trade books for Merriam Webster, Inc. As an author, Max has written for the Who Was…? series, Mad Libs™, Sanrio, and more. He currently lives in Washington D.C. with his husband, Anthony, and an absolutely ancient cat named Princeton.