Texas Book Festival Staff

Lois Kim

Executive Director

Lois serves as Texas Book Festival’s chief executive officer, responsible for leading the organization's strategic direction, staff, resource development and external relations. An immigrant from Seoul, Korea, Lois grew up in Williamsville, New York. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in English from the University of Texas at Austin, where her research focused on Shakespeare and early modern culture. In her early career, she taught high school English and pursued graduate coursework from the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College. Prior to joining the Texas Book Festival, Lois served as the associate director of University Extension at UT Austin, where she managed student and academic affairs for college credit students. She also served on the board of the Austin Public Library Friends Foundation for six years, four of those as Vice President. Her husband, Phillip Reed, is a principal of Cotera + Reed Architects and they have two children: Sylvia (21) and Nate (18). Lois loves to cook, hike, and is a member of two bookclubs. Her favorite book genres are literary fiction across all centuries and memoir.

Matthew Patin

Literary Director

matthew@texasbookfestival.org

Matt has more than fifteen years of experience in books, editing, and publishing, primarily as an editor. He began collaborating with TBF in 2014 as a chair of one of the organization's volunteer committees, then in 2015 as a member of the Lit Crawl–Austin council. Matt started his career as an author assistant, then interned at both the Austin Chronicle and aGLIFF—an Austin-based film festival—before occupying communications and editorial roles at publishers and education institutions. Since 2009 he has edited, collaborated with, or advised nearly 200 fiction and nonfiction authors, including award winners and bestsellers, and has contributed to Kirkus Reviews and the Austin Chronicle. He has a bachelor’s degree from the Moody College of Communication at the University of Texas and is a California State University–certified ghostwriter. In addition to acting as TBF’s literary director, Matt serves on the board of advisors at Austin Bat Cave—a literary and literacy-education nonprofit and TBF partner organization.

Susannah Auby

Development Manager

Ke'ara Hunt

Communications & Marketing Coordinator

Ke'ara Hunt

Communications & Marketing Coordinator

keara@texasbookfestival.org

Ke'ara serves as Texas Book Festival’s Communications and Marketing Coordinator. She is responsible for coordinating and executing the communication, marketing, publicity, and messaging efforts across multiple channels. She holds a master’s degree in Television Producing & Management from Boston University and a double bachelor's degree in Radio-TV-Film & English from The University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining the Texas Book Festival, she has worked in entertainment and events with SXSW, Austin Film Festival, Austin Film Society, and The Ellen Degeneres Show. In her free time, she blogs about TV/film/music/lit and experiments with vegan recipes. You'll probably catch her re-reading a Jane Austen or a Toni Morrison masterpiece.

Michelle Hernandez

School & Community Programs Coordinator

Olivia Hesse

Event Production & Logistics Coordinator

Olivia Hesse

Event Production & Logistics Coordinator

oliviahesse@texasbookfestival.org

Olivia serves as the Texas Book Festival’s Event Production and Logistics Coordinator, responsible for organizing volunteers, general setup, and logistics for festival weekend. She holds bachelor's degrees in English and Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin, along with a Certificate in Creative Writing. She’s lived in the Austin area her whole life, is passionate about the art of storytelling in whatever form it may take, and served as the Events Production intern for TBF prior to joining full time. Her favorite book genres are literary fiction, personal essays, and fiction short stories. Outside of work you can find her running very slowly around Town Lake, reading at Zilker, or looking for the best vegetarian restaurants in town.

Anna Dolliver

Operations Coordinator

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