Lise Olsen is an investigative reporter, editor and author based in Texas who has uncovered many twisted tales, including crooked judges, an unjust execution, massive environmental disasters, myriad corruption cases, and unsolved serial killings. She is currently investigations editor at the Texas Observer and her work has been featured in several documentaries, including Netflix’s The Texas Killing Fields, The Pillowcase Murders on Paramount+, CNN’s The Wrong Man, and A&E’s The Eleven.
Her first book, Code of Silence (Beacon Press 2021) won the Texas Institute of Letters’ Carr P. Collins Award for Best Book of Nonfiction and the Investigative Reporters & Editors’ (IRE) book award. Her new book is The Scientist & The Serial Killer: The Search for Houston’s Lost Boys (Random House 2025).
2025 Festival Session