AFTERNOON KEYNOTE

Chris Tomlinson is a columnist for the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News, focusing on politics, money and life in Texas. Tomlinson’s commentary appears twice a week, and he writes a weekly newsletter drawing on his 30 years of reporting experience. The Texas Managing Editors named Tomlinson the opinion writer of the year for 2021.

He is also the author of the New York Times bestsellers Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth and Tomlinson Hill: The Remarkable Story of Two Families who Share the Tomlinson Name-One White, One Black.

Previously, Tomlinson was the supervisory correspondent for The Associated Press in Austin, responsible for state government and political reporting in Texas. From 2001-2009, he was a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press and served as the East Africa bureau chief in Nairobi, Kenya.

Tomlinson has reported from more than 30 countries, including Rwanda, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Congo. Before becoming a journalist, he spent seven years in the U.S. Army. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1992 with special honors in humanities.

He currently serves on the board of advisers of The Texas Book Festival and the Museum of Human Achievement.