Joe Holley

Adjunct Professor of Media and Public Affairs

Phone: (202) 994-4977
Fax: (202) 994-5806
E-mail: holleyj@washpost.com

Expertise
Basic Reporting and Writing

Editorial Writing

Feature Writing

Media Ethics

Continuous News

Courses Taught
SMPA Basic Writing and Reporting

Selected Work
Co-author, with Tara Elgin Holley, of "My Mother's Keeper: A Daughter's Memoir of Growing Up in the Shadow of Schizophrenia" (William Morrow, 1997)

"The Life and Times of Slingin' Sammy Baugh" (University of Texas Press, 2010)

"The Purse Bearer: A Tale of Love, Lust and Texas Politics" (TCU Press, 2010)

Background
A staff writer at The Washington Post for the past four years, Joe spent most of his career in his native Texas. Over the years, he's been a college English teacher in Dallas, editor of the Texas Observer in Austin and an editorial page editor and columnist in San Antonio (at the old San Antonio Light and most recently at the San Antonio Express-News). He's been a regular contributor to Texas Monthly and a speech writer and deputy press secretary for former Texas Gov. Ann Richards. He's also been an editorial page editor and columnist for the San Diego Tribune and a contributing editor to Columbia Journalism Review. At The Post, he writes continuous news, long-form obituaries and feature stories. He's also taught media ethics at the University of Texas at Austin.

He and his wife, Tara, wrote a book about her experiences dealing with her mother's mental illness called "My Mother's Keeper: A Daughter's Memoir of Growing Up in the Shadow of Schizophrenia" (William Morrow, 1997).

At the moment, Joe is working on a book about race in Texas, for Algonquin Press, and a novel about a female candidate for governor in a state very much like Texas.

His wife, Tara, is director of development for the Washington Performing Arts Society. They have four children: Heather, a singer/songwriter in Hollywood; Rachel: a French scholar in Germany; Pete, a reporter for Newsday; and Kate, freshman at Marymount Manhattan College.

Education
B.A., English, Abilene Christian University
M.A., English, University of Texas at Austin
M.S., Journalism, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Cities/Places Familiar With:
Austin, San Antonio, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Diego, New York

Foreign Language
Spanish