Michael Roberts Appointed Interim Executive Director of The Center for Fiction

June 17, 2020
New York, NY

The Board of Directors of The Center for Fiction announced the appointment of Michael Roberts as interim executive director, effective June 30. Roberts will succeed Noreen Tomassi, who is retiring this month after serving as executive director since 2004. Roberts will lead the day-to-day operations of the organization while a national search is conducted for a permanent executive director.

A preeminent leader in non-profit management, Roberts has held senior administrative posts at Harvard University, PEN American Center, the Asia Society and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown.

Roberts most recently held the position of Executive Director of the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, home to one of the nation’s most prestigious residency programs for writers and artists, an acclaimed summer workshop series, and the innovative online writing program 24Pearl. During his six-year tenure, he launched the organization’s largest-ever fundraising campaign.

Prior to his position in Provincetown, he served as the Asia Society’s Executive Director for Public Programs, where he developed and oversaw some 120 events each year, bringing Asian perspectives to the fields of literature, visual and performing arts, film, international affairs, business and education.

For eleven years, Roberts was Executive Director of PEN American Center, a nonprofit organization that works to defend and celebrate free expression in the United States and worldwide through the advancement of literature and human rights. There, he was instrumental in the launch of PEN World Voices, the international literary festival, and the formation of the Open Book program aimed at advancing racial and ethnic diversity in the literary and publishing fields. Roberts expanded Readers & Writers, PEN’s school and community outreach program, and deepened support for Prison Writing, the writing and mentoring program for the incarcerated in US correctional institutions. Under his leadership, PEN increased its prestigious literary awards and raised its fund-raising to new levels.

From 1982-1998, Roberts was at Harvard University, where he served as attorney, then secretary of the university, and assistant to the president, and taught undergraduate literature courses.