J. K. Fowler is the current Executive Director of the Bay Area Book Festival, Policy Analyst and Special Programs/Community Outreach with BAMBD, CDC, and Operations Support for APEN and APEN Action. Previously, he founded and ran Nomadic Press, a community-rooted publishing house headquartered in Oakland and sat on Oakland's Cultural Affairs Commission, during which time he helped launch the Oakland Poet Laureate Program. 

He is currently most interested in the intersections of civic bodies, private development, arts organizations, and community benefits agreements that can help to ensure artist and arts organization retention in the cities that they love and support.