Jessica Papin is a literary agent and vice president at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret literary agency in New York. She began her 25-year career in publishing as an acquisitions editor at Warner Books (now Grand Central Publishing) in New York, and later worked in Egypt as the foreign rights director for the American University in Cairo Press. With a background on both sides of the desk, she loves working collaboratively with clients to shape and refine their work. Her stay in the Middle East gave her an abiding interest in the history and politics of the region, as well as the broader Islamic world.  She is interested in plot-driven literary and smart commercial fiction, and narrative non-fiction across a range of subjects, including science, medicine, history, memoir, economics and women’s issues. In every case, she looks for passion, erudition, and storytelling skill. A wry sense of humor doesn’t hurt. Her clients include Mychal Denzel Smith, Zahra Hankir, Meg Lowman, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Qais Akbar Omar, Kate Winkler Dawson and Christopher Yates.