Ruth Dickey

Ruth Dickey has spent over 25 years working at the intersection of community building, writing, and art. She served as Executive Director of Seattle Arts & Lectures, which brings the best writers and thinkers to Seattle stages and classrooms, and is now the Executive Director of National Book Foundation. A builder and believer in big dreams, Ruth has had the pleasure of leading organizations in Washington, DC; New Orleans, LA; Cincinnati, OH; and Seattle, WA to dramatically expand their community impact. Ruth holds an MFA in poetry from UNC-Greensboro, and a BS in Foreign Service and an MA in Latin American Studies from Georgetown University. She was a 2017 fellow with the National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program, and served as a judge in Fiction for the 2019 National Book Awards.