Texas Book Festival Staff

Lois Kim

Executive Director

Lois serves as Texas Book Festival’s chief executive, responsible for managing staff, programs, operations, external relations, and resource development. 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 (18) and Nate (15). Lois loves to cook, hike, and is a member of two bookclubs. Her favorite book genres are literary fiction across all centuries and memoir.

Claire Burrows

Deputy Director

Maris Finn

Development Associate

Maris Finn

Development Associate

maris@texasbookfestival.org

Maris serves as the Development Associate for Texas Book Festival. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in English from The State University of New York at Geneseo. Before joining the festival, Maris worked as the Executive Assistant at The Center for Generational Kinetics, and as a ghostwriter for the New York-based firm Katz Creative, Inc. Her literary interests include literary and speculative fiction, as well as short stories and poetry. Her own short fiction has been published by Witness Magazine, Molotov Cocktail online journal and Gandy Dancer Literary Magazine, Literal Latte, and Noble/Gas Quarterly. Her story "Whale Summer" was recently nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is working on a short story collection and a novel.

Nicole Wielga

Logistics and Volunteer Coordinator

Nicole Wielga

Logistics and Volunteer Coordinator

nicole@texasbookfestival.org

Nicole serves as Texas Book Festival’s Logistics and Volunteer Coordinator. She is responsible for organizing all volunteer efforts for the Festival as well as working with the contract logistics team. Born in Houston, Texas, she spent her formative years in Singapore before returning to America. She holds a bachelor’s degree with honors for Theatre with a concentration in Stage Management from Roger Williams University. Prior to working at the Texas Book Festival, she has worked in entertainment and events with SXSW, Stand Up to Cancer, Think It Up, The Skouras Agency, and The Rhode Island International Film Festival as well as several theatrical, musical, and film productions and Oscar campaigns. Surprisingly, her favorite books to read are cookbooks as reading the lists of ingredients and cooking steps give her a sense of peace. She also enjoys reading young adult novels and memoirs.

Lucy Vélez

School & Community Programs Coordinator

Lucy Vélez

School & Community Programs Coordinator

lucy@texasbookfestival.org

Lucy serves as the School & Community Programs Coordinator, responsible for Reading Rock Stars, Real Reads, and Library Grants programs. She has a PhD in Curriculum and Instruction and a doctoral portfolio in Mexican American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a Tejana, raised a few blocks away from the U.S.-Mexico border, and the community cultural wealth of this region continues to drive her commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Prior to joining Texas Book Festival, Lucy worked in higher education in multiple capacities including teaching, student support programs, and admissions review. Outside of the TBF, Lucy and her husband, Efraín, spend all their time making sure their two boys fall in love with Austin, road trips, wildlife, Texas summers, BBQ, tacos, and of course, books. Her favorite genre is Chicana literature- it validated her border crosser identity as a teenager and continues to inspire her today.

Katey Psencik

Communications & Marketing Coordinator

Gavin Quinn

Programs Assistant

We gave out $100,000 in 2017 to 44 libraries across Texas!

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