Peter Fusco is a life-long avid reader who holds a BA in English Literature from The City College of New York. With decades of experience in administration, he brings implementation and organization to the Saima Agency. Diane Saarinen has been energetically advising outstanding authors since 2008. Diane holds a certificate in Public Relations issued by MediaBistro, which was awarded in September 2012.
We coordinate publicity for talented writers, including New York Times bestselling author Cathy Marie Buchanan (The Day The Falls Stood Still); internationally bestselling historical fiction author Sandra Gulland (The Josephine B. Trilogy); Globe and Mail bestselling author Catherine McKenzie (Spin); Kafka Prize award winner and Commonwealth Prize finalist Isla Morley (Come Sunday); and longlisted for Canada’s prestigious 2011 Giller Prize, Genni Gunn (Solitaria).
Active in the book-loving community, Diane serves as 
Secretary in the local Friends of the Carroll Gardens Library organization. Her own work as a writer has appeared in numerous publications including Quiet Mountain: New Feminist Essays, Women’s eNews Daily, Her Circle Ezine (where she served as Blog Producer) and Working Women: Stories of Strife, Struggle and Survival (Sage Publishing, February 2009). Diane has written for several Finnish-American newspapers throughout the last decade, and she makes her pride for her Finnish heritage evident in this July 2012 CNN.com article.
Together, Peter and Diane live in Brooklyn, NY in a century-old and creaky brownstone. The duo are also spirited and intrepid bargain-hunting collectors and can often be spied at yard sales and flea markets. In this vein, watch their October 2011 appearances on The Nate Berkus Show and Clean House NYC.
Patrick Fusco has been a copywriter at Random House, Inc. for more than twenty years. He has composed dust-jacket and back cover copy for books in a wide range of genres, including literary fiction, mystery/suspense, fantasy, science fiction, romance, humor, biography, true crime, history, memoir, entertainment, reference, graphic novels, and e-books—by such authors as Jonathan Kellerman, Dean Koontz, Terry Brooks, William Goldman, Hunter S. Thompson, Michael Chabon, and Janet Evanovich. In addition he has done extensive advertising and promotion work for Random House books, including print, radio, and TV ads, marketing and point-of-purchase materials, galley letters, ARCs, and catalogs. He has also freelanced for other major publishers, including Simon & Schuster, Penguin USA, and Hyperion.
Our Summer 2012 intern Heather has become our year-round assistant! Heather is a senior at the State University of 
New York in Oneonta. She is majoring in Communications and looks forward to a career in Public Relations upon graduation in 2013. Heather’s duties at the Saima Agency include virtual assistance and blog tour coordination. In her spare time, Heather enjoys ballroom dancing, soccer and, of course, reading.
What does “saima” mean? Saima — pronounced sigh-ma – is a popular woman’s first name in Finland. It is associated with Lake Saimaa (Finland is the “land of a thousand lakes”). It was also Diane’s mother’s name.
Fun Fact: The Saima Agency is centrally located in a known epicenter for novelists! Read the Guardian’s How Brooklyn became a writer’s mecca for more details.
Photography of Peter and Diane by Carla Licavoli
