Zoë Ruiz is highly skilled in event planning including pre-event nuts and bolts, talent and volunteer management, and meeting deadlines. A good communicator, Ruiz is responsive, anticipates issues, and is well organized. I highly recommend her.
-Natashia Deón, producer of Dirty Laundry Lit and author of Grace
Zoë was incredibly professional, organized and, to put it simply, a sheer joy to work with. In the busiest throes of festival planning, she kept a cool head and was able to easily switch back and forth between high-level thinking and extremely detailed tasks. She didn’t let a single project fall through the cracks during a time that would utterly ripe for “ball dropping.” She immediately became a member of our core team and my staff loved working with her. She leavened the room during stressful moments with a warm, dry humor–which I adored. She worked with approximately 20 different vendors, contractors and university employees, all of whom had different communications styles, personalities, etc. Zoë is a people person, a fantastic project manager, deeply creative, sharp, and analytic. In our debrief session after the festival, she provided invaluable feedback that will allow us to better our work in the years to come.
-Kellen Braddock, Deputy Director of Black Mountain Institute and Publisher of The Believer
I’ve organized over 100 literary events. Below is a list of some of the events that I have produced or co-produced. They include literary events that I have organized for AWP, The Believer and Black Mountain Institute Literary Festival, LA Times Festival of Books, The Rumpus, and McSweeney’s. In addition to this list, I have produced over 60 events for The Last Bookstore, L.A.’s largest independent bookstore.
2018
Micah Perks discusses True Love with Nina Revoyr
Porochista Khakpour Discusses SICK with Karen Russell, Janice Lee, Cari Luna, Leni Zumas at Powell’s
The Believer Festival
2017
Readings and The Table Present: Chiwan Choi and Porochista Khakpour
Prayers for the American Dream at the Red Rock Canyon Amphitheatre
The American Dream: On Trial, featuring Ben Marcus, ZZ Packer, Luis Alberto Urrea, and more
American Dreams: Sex & Rock ‘n’ Roll Division, featuring Carrie Brownstein, Dave Eggers, and Miranda July
Elegies & Love Songs, featuring Jim James and Tift Merritt
2016
A Celebration of Recent Work in Translation from Phoneme Media, The Black Mountain Institute, and McSweeney’s
Micah Perks discusses What Becomes Us with Michelle Tea
Readings featuring Lorelei Lee
Readings, Zoë’s Birthday Benefit
An AWP Offsite Event: Phoneme Fiesta at The Little Easy
Mario Bellatin in conversation with Porochista Khakpour
2015
Crevasse in Los Angeles
READINGS, No. 10
Sam Chanse discusses Lydia’s Funeral Video with Ed Lin
READINGS, no. 9
Smoking Hot Lit Lounge, LA Times Festival of Books
Sexy Motherf***er, an AWP offsite event
2014
No Sudden Movements: A Comedy Benefit Show
Ménage à loss
Bad Feminists(s): Roxane Gay and Friends
READINGS, no. 8
Nerdy Wordy and Dirty, an LA Times Festival of Books offsite event
Rumpus by the Sound, an AWP offsite event
READINGS, no. 7
2013
Show Me How, LA Lit Crawl, co-produced with Dirty Laundry Lit and sponsored by PEN
For We Have Fallen to Our Knees, San Francisco Lit Crawl
READINGS at the PEN Center USA literary stage, no. 6
Michelle Tea and Friends in LA
READINGS, no. 5
READINGS, no. 4
2012
READINGS, no. 3
Happy Baby in Los Angeles, a Rumpus Kickstarter event
READINGS, no. 2
READINGS, no. 1
2011
It’s About Time, The Rumpus in LA
Zoë Ruiz 