About

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Kim Pittaway is the co-author, with Toufah Jallow, of Toufah: The Woman Who Inspired an African #MeToo Movement, which the New York Times called “riveting” and “propulsive,” and, with Dr. Samra Zafar, of Unconditional: Break Through Past Limits to Transform Your Future. She is a cohort director in the MFA in Creative Nonfiction program at the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and an award-winning journalist with publication and broadcast credits that include Hazlitt, Chatelaine, Reader’s Digest, More Magazine, Best Health, Cottage Life, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, CBC Radio’s The Current, Tapestry and others. She is the former editor-in-chief of Chatelaine, a recipient of a Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal, the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Canadian National Magazine Awards Foundation (and an 8-time NMAF finalist), a co-winner of a Canadian Science Writers’ Association Award with her sister the journalist Tina Pittaway, and a finalist for the American Society of Journalists and Authors service writing award. She is a past president of the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia and the National Magazine Awards Foundation.

Here’s what I’m up to

Today, I spend much of my time working with mentors, faculty and students in the MFA in Creative Nonfiction low-residency program at the University of King’s College, in my role as cohort director. Our program is focused on both the craft and business of nonfiction writing, and I’m delighted to be part of a program that is helping to bring great stories into the world.

As well, I work with a small and select number of clients as a co-author, ghostwriter and writing coach (depending on their needs). Two recent projects on which I was co-author—Toufah: The Woman Who Inspired an African #MeToo Movement (with Toufah Jallow) and Unconditional: Break Through Past Limits to Transform Your Future (with Dr. Samra Zafar)—were instant Canadian bestsellers. Toufah was reviewed in the New York Times Book Review where Melissa Febos described it as “riveting,” and “harrowing and propulsive.”

And, with some author-friends, I lead an independent series of online writing workshops at WomenOnThePage.com.

I also write the newsletter I Have Thoughts. Fair warning: its publishing schedule is idiosyncratic. Good news: it’s free. (You can subscribe at the Newsletter tab in the upper navigation bar.)

In my spare time (yes, there is a little), I play with linen threads, jute, and other fibres to craft small baskets (yup, literal basketweaving), poke around in my garden, and follow my dog Marcie on long walks as she follows her nose. Since moving to Canada’s east coast, I’ve also built a small collection of artwork by painters such as Leya Evelyn, Lorena Ziraldo, Lesly Benditsky, and others. I used to love going to live antique auctions, but most of them seem to have shifted online, and it’s just not the same!

What I care about

I’ve spent my life telling stories, and helping others tell theirs. I’m fascinated by people who stand up for what they believe in—and those who discover what they believe in when life tests them with the unexpected, the unfair, the unfathomable.

How do people survive tough times? Why are some more resilient than others? How do we create a society that values diversity and makes room for difference? And how can we make the world a better place, one story at a time?

I love true stories that challenge our expectations about simple answers and clear conclusions. I like ambiguity. I’m attracted to stories that make me think—and keep me thinking long after I’ve read (or written!) the last line. I like people who struggle, and who are honest about life’s struggles.

And I have a deep affection for well-deployed profanity.

I’ve earned my living writing and editing, and I both love and loathe the business side of the business of writing. It’s challenging and exasperating and exciting and daunting. And the smartest thing any writer can do is understand how it all works, so that she can make it work for her.

How to read my resume

You can see the broad outline of my work life on LinkedIn. Here’s the narrative.

I graduated with a degree in journalism from Carleton University in 1986, and spent my first two years working for a small owner-operated magazine aimed at people over 50. I was 22. I don’t think they could afford anyone over 50. When the magazine closed shop, I started freelancing. I sent out almost 20 queries to Canadian Living magazine—all of them rejected—before an editor finally took pity and assigned me a front of book piece on a subject I hadn’t pitched. Before long, I was writing regularly for the magazine, and for other national consumer magazines as well. Along the way, I also proofread Harlequin Romances, wrote advertising copy, did stints chase producing for television, wrote a newspaper column on the environment, did policy research for a magazine industry association and more. In the mid-1990s, I started writing features for Chatelaine (one editor called me the angel of darkness because many of the topics I tackled were, well, challenging). In 1999, I became a columnist on social issues for the magazine, eventually becoming a part-time features editor and then full-time managing editor. In 2004, I was named editor-in-chief. In 2005, I left the magazine after clashing with my publisher over drawing the line between editorial and advertising content. It was a big deal at the time, and I wasn’t sure I’d work in magazines again.

I did—though not on staff. I returned to freelancing, took what I’d learned about marketing and online publishing, and started doing consulting work with publishers and others on print and online communications. I returned to school and earned an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College. (I took the long route—starting in 2006, stalling and then finishing in 2014.) I’ve taught at Toronto Metropolitan University and King’s College. I’ve had the privilege of working with IFEX, an international network of free expression groups whose members often risk their lives to ensure that important stories get told. In 2014, I joined the MFA program at King’s as a mentor, in 2017 stepped into the role of executive director, and in 2023 shifted to cohort director in creative nonfiction. It is an amazing program whose students are producing terrific books. (If you’ve always wanted to write a book, you should check us out.)