Dr. Megan Holt is the Executive Director for One Book One New Orleans and the Words & Music Literary Festival. Raised in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Megan received a B.A. in English and Spanish from the University of Alabama in 2003 and a Ph.D in English/Comparative Literature from Tulane University in 2013. The same year, she began her work with community literacy. She received the 2014 Literacy Champion of Greater New Orleans award. In 2015 she was named one of Gambit Weekly’s “40 Under 40” and New Orleans Magazine’s “People to Watch.” In 2021, she gave a TEDx Talk titled “Becoming Part of the Story” on her journey to becoming an advocate for adult literacy. Her efforts were recognized in 2023 with the Light Up for Literacy award, presented by Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities in Partnership with Louisiana Center for the Book.
In her spare time, Megan can usually be found listening to live music. Her husband, Jermaine Smith, and their sons, Jefferson and Abel, inspire her to work toward making New Orleans a better place.
