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Phil Oakley

Home Featured Authors & Panelists Featured Participant Lineup 2026 Phil Oakley

Phil Oakley is an award-winning journalist, author, educator, filmmaker, and executive. The author of eight novels, he published his first book in 2014, 50 years after starting it at UT Austin. Oakley’s career includes serving as Director of the Louisiana Film Commission, a Walt Disney Company executive supervising ABC News coverage, and an editor for The Dallas Morning News. He covered presidential campaigns from LBJ to George W. Bush. Oakley recently retired from Kennedale High School and lives in Arlington, Texas, with his wife, Nancy.

 

Schedule

10:30 am to 11:30 am
Bienville Building, First Floor, Conference Center 173
Shadows of the Past: Historical Novels of Tragedy, Heritage, and Resilience
Phil Oakley, Austin Sunrise
William Christy Smith, Skylark: A Novel
Shannon Terry Wiley, Yellow September: A Novel
with moderator Joy E. Rancatore

11:45 am to 12:30 pm
Cavalier House Books Tent
Book Signing

2:15 pm to 3:00 pm
State Library, Second Floor, Meeting Room
Where the Wild Things Reign: Novels of Suspense, Survival, and Frontier Folklore
Johnnie Bernhard, The Witch of Sonora
Taylor Brown, Wolvers
with moderator Phil Oakley

Austin Sunrise

Passion, Power, and the Price of Change

Discover the sweeping saga of ambition, family, and the American spirit in this richly layered novel set against the dramatic backdrop of wartime and postwar Texas. Follow the unforgettable journeys of Brooks and Ray Oakley, two brothers whose divergent paths take them across military frozen landscapes, bustling Austin cafes, cutthroat oil fields, and the booming postwar restaurant scene. The final book in the Oakleys saga wraps up the story that began with Little Hatchet and continued with Runners. With dynamic historical detail, razor-sharp dialogue, and a cast of complex characters, Austin Sunrise explores themes of loyalty, resilience, and reinvention. In Austin Sunrise, dreams rise over the horizon and lives are forged in fire, snow, and smoke.