Katie Phillips

Director of the Fiction Department

As Director of the Fiction Department, Katie Phillips oversees the editorial and instructor teams as they provide manuscript assessments and coaching calls to students. Not only does she manage the short story anthology process, she also trains staff members, works with individual students who require specialized assistance, creates trainings on writing craft and the publishing industry, and serves as an integral part of strategic program development.

Prior to bringing her 15+ years of editing and coaching experience to the Conservatory, Katie ran her own successful editorial and writing craft coaching business and helped co-found and run an independent small press. She has worked with multiple award-winning authors, including Kara Swanson Matsumoto on YA fantasy novels Dust and Ignite, during her years as a developmental editor and coach. She also developed and ran courses on entrepreneurship and branding for authors and editors, and has taught craft at multiple writing conferences, including the BlueRidge Christian Writers Conference.

Katie lived in England for three years and visited over 25 countries while working for OM, a global Christian non-profit. She served as head of European communications, managing teams of writers and photographers in 30 countries, and as associate producer for the video and AV teams creating documentary videos about the work of OM around the world. She has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications with a special interest in modern languages, and worked for multiple newspapers before focusing her attention on fiction writing.

She lives with her husband, houseplant collection, and two rambunctious hobbits in Kansas, where she eats far too much sushi and loves watching the Bad Batch, ATLA, and the Great British Bake-Off (which also inspires her hobby of making delicious baked treats). She’s passionate about quality storytelling and encouraging and equipping authors to follow Jesus more in every area of their lives.