Meet the CHLM Team

Cyndi Hughes is the president of Cynthia Hughes Literary Management, a company she formed in March 2004 to meet the needs of authors and publishers in Texas and throughout the country. Hughes is the founding director of the Texas Book Festival, which was founded by First Lady Laura Bush in 1996. Hughes joined the Festival in July 1996 and was instrumental in planning the inaugural Festival in November 1996. Under Hughes’s leadership, the Festival acquired a reputation as one of the most prestigious and popular literary events in Texas and in the United States . In addition to spotlighting more than 150 authors from all over the country at the historic Texas State Capitol in Austin every November, the event raised nearly $1.5 million for more that 470 Texas public libraries. When Mrs. Bush became the nation’s First Lady in 2001, the Library of Congress established the National Book Festival, which was inspired by the Texas event.

As the director of the Festival, a nonprofit corporation, Hughes managed a budget of nearly $900,000 and supervised a two-person staff, eight contract workers, and 700 to 800 volunteers. She ­cultivated sponsors and sponsorships, worked closely with various state and city offices (including the First Lady’s office and the Texas House of Representatives and Texas Senate), and organized the Festival’s publicity and marketing campaign (including the Web site and print collateral campaign). She also had the responsibility of contacting authors and publishers and coordinating the details of their appearances, from making travel arrangements to orchestrating the schedule of author programs.

Hughes has also served on a panel evaluating literature grants for the National Endowment for the Arts and consulted with the National Book Festival organized by the Library of Congress in Washington , D.C.

Hughes also works as a literary agent through Hornfischer Literary Management.

Before joining the Texas Book Festival, Hughes was the owner of In Other Words, an editing and writing service in Austin. Prior to that, she was an editor for more than seven years at Texas Monthly and a copy editor at the Austin American-Statesman. She has a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Kansas and has lived in Austin, Texas, since 1981.

Amy Tharp Nylund
Amy Tharp Nylund has worked with books and authors for ten years. She has served as a bookseller, events planner, general manager of a small independent bookstore, office manager and media coordinator for the Texas Book Festival, and in the marketing department of the University of Texas Press. Amy lives with her family in Austin, Texas. When she isn't working or chasing around a charming toddler named Berkeley, she spends her time cooking vegan comfort food and reading good books.

Thunder Dog Office Mascot Thunder takes his duties as office mascot seriously. He's in charge of the napping area under the desk and the stash of rawhide chews.