Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

Westfall is the deputy politics editor at the Los Angeles Times. Previously, she led real-time news at The Times. She has also worked in breaking-news editing roles at Digital First Media in New York City, NPR-affiliate KPCC in Los Angeles, and the regional news startup TBD.com in... Read More →

Bellantoni has been assistant managing editor, politics since August 2015. She came to the Los Angeles Times after 12 years covering politics in Washington, most recently as editor-in-chief at Roll Call. Before that, she served as political editor at “PBS NewsHour” for two years... Read More →

De Groot is the director of data visualization for the Los Angeles Times, overseeing the development of graphics and data presentations for digital platforms and in print. A California native, he joined The Times after teaching at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and... Read More →

Manzano is the Los Angeles Times’ director of audience engagement. She previously worked for the Oregonian, where she was that newsroom’s first social media editor and engagement strategist. Manzano has lectured on social media and journalism for the American Press Institute... Read More →

Ochoa is the arts and entertainment editor of the L.A. Times and co-founder of the literary journal Slake, which features narrative reporting, fiction, memoir, poetry, art and photography. Prior to her role at the L.A. Times, Ochoa was editor of the LA Weekly and Gourmet magazine... Read More →