Michelle serves as the Director of Youth Programs, responsible for Reading Rock Stars, Real Reads, and Library Grants programs. She received both her master’s degree in education and bachelor’s degree in psychology from Texas State University. Prior to joining Texas Book Festival, Michelle worked in various roles in K-12 education, including 11 years as an elementary school teacher. Her love of children’s books, and their authors and illustrators, started in the classroom while engaging with stories and poems with students. Michelle enjoys exploring Austin with her husband and daughter, checking out local restaurants, and reading literary fiction, YA, and memoirs.
Author: Anna Dolliver
Roosevelt Weeks
Roosevelt Weeks is the Director of the Austin Public Library where he leads a dynamic team and library system. His responsibility includes 20 branch locations, the History Center and a Central Library, listed by Time Magazine as one of the World’s Greatest Places in 2018. Weeks joined the Austin Public Library team in 2017 and previously worked at the Houston Public Library, Pasadena Public Library, Accenture and Aetna.
Weeks is passionate about improving technology, literacy and education, both inside and outside of the library. He also works directly with community leaders to agree upon shared values, vision, and measures of success. This furthers the combined goal of ensuring a future workforce capable of the complex critical thinking skills necessary to succeed in an ever-changing competitive environment.
In addition, Weeks is a member and serves on several committees within the American Library Association (ALA), Public Library Association (PLA), Texas Library Association (TLA), Urban Library Council (ULC), National Forum for Black Public Administrators (NFBPA), University of Texas Libraries System, as well as currently serving on the Executive Boards for both TLA and ULC. Weeks received his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Texas Southern University and his Master of Library Science degree from the University of North Texas. In his spare time, Weeks enjoys time with family, serving in his church and helping the community.
Teresa Oppedal
Teresa Oppedal enjoyed a twenty-year career as a law librarian and legal information services manager at Morrison & Foerster, a large international law firm in San Francisco. Since retiring and moving to Austin in 2000, she has volunteered for many local non-profits including serving as Board President of the Austin Public Library Friends Foundation, on the advisory board of the Austin Museum of Art, on the grants committee of the Austin Community Foundation’s Women’s Fund, and as Advisory Council Chair of Literacy First. Most recently she built a small business, having developed a bug bite deterring mesh jumpsuit. Her primary interests remain promoting literacy and the free dissemination of information to all.
Carlos Y. Benavides IV
Carlos Y. Benavides IV is a Texas attorney working in the city of Austin at Ikard Law PC, where he represents clients in matters related to fiduciary law. Carlos received a BA in English from Marymount University and a JD from St. Mary’s University School of Law. He began his legal career in Hidalgo County, Texas as a state prosecutor for the first Domestic Violence Specialty Court in South Texas to rehabilitate domestic violence offenders, reduce potential recidivism and improve upon victim safety. Carlos has served on the non-profit Texas Council on Family Violence’s Prosecutor Leadership Core and went on to help establish and serve as the first labor trafficking specialty state prosecutor in the State of Texas. In 2019, Texas Governor Greg Abbott appointed Carlos to serve a six-year term on the Specialty Courts Advisory Council as a gubernatorial appointee. As a member of the advisory council, Carlos evaluates applications from specialty courts across the state for grant funding from the Governor’s Office and makes recommendations to the office’s criminal justice division regarding best practices for these courts.
Dalton Young
Dalton Young is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Rank & Style (rankandstyle.com), a lifestyle media site that features data-driven “Top 10” lists promoting best-of products in women’s fashion, beauty, men’s clothing, skincare, kids and home categories. She joined Rank & Style from the legal industry where she previously practiced as an attorney and was the president of a technical and data-driven legal support company. Dalton is passionate about contributing to the Austin community and spearheaded the creation of Hartford Park, a new pocket park in central Austin, through a unique public-private partnership with the City of Austin. In 2020, she co-chaired The Texas Book Festival Virtual Gala and is a former member of the Elizabeth Ann Seton Board. Dalton received her undergraduate degree in English literature from Washington and Lee University and her law degree from The University of Texas at Austin. She lives in Austin with her husband, Victor, and their sons Philip and Elliot.
Andrea Valdez
Andrea Valdez is the managing editor of The Atlantic. Previously she served as editor in chief of the Texas Observer, editor of WIRED.com, and editor of Texas Monthly’s website. A native Houstonian, she wrote the book “How to be a Texan: The Manual.” She is also a board member of the Student Press Law Center.
Anna Loewenbaum Hargrove
Anna Loewenbaum Hargrove co-chaired the Texas Book Festival Virtual Gala last year and currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Good Shepherd Episcopal School, the Seton Development Board and the UNC Lineberger Board of Visitors. Anna previously served on the Elizabeth Ann Seton Board. Originally from New Orleans, she received her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her masters in Special Education from the University of Texas at Austin. Anna previously taught kindergarten in New York and first grade at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Austin. She currently lives in Austin with her three boys and her husband Reg.
Grant Loveless
Born and raised in Austin, Texas, Grant E. Loveless is an AfroQueer award-winning student, social entrepreneur and community strategist in Central Texas. They are currently a student at Austin Community College majoring in Psychology seeking to pursue a career within Journalism and Public Policy. After graduation, Loveless hopes to serve their community as a liaison to youth and their academic or professional needs. Currently, as a spoken-word poet and well-recognized public speaker, they focus on creating dialogues centering: social and economic equity, cultural preservation and representation, youth empowerment and success as well as creative activism / storytelling.
Susannah Auby
Susannah Auby serves as Texas Book Festival’s Development Director. She received her MBA from Columbia University and her bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Berkeley. Prior to joining Texas Book Festival, she was a volunteer in Austin in many roles focused on education fundraising, literacy outreach, libraries, and her greatest passion, introducing children to books and all the magic that they offer. Her prior professional experience was in New York and included management consulting, strategic planning, and financial analysis.