Mediabistro logo
Kathleen McCleary

Kathleen McCleary

400 E Jefferson ST | FALLS CHURCH, VA

25 Years Experience

Professional Experience

I'm an accomplished writer and editor with excellent skills in crafting stories and articles, interviewing, research and reporting, and editing. My writing style is clean, spare, and powerful. I've interviewed subjects from Lin-Manuel Miranda to Michael Jordan to Chris Evert to Norah O'Donnell to Robert Duvall. As a reporter, I know how to put interview subjects at ease, ask wide-ranging questions, and scrupulously check facts. As an editor, I know how to listen for a writer's individual voice and make it shine through their work, which is why I love working with kids as well as adults. I'm also a good public speaker and know how to engage an audience—skills honed through teaching (as an adjunct professor of writing at American University, with Writopia Labs, and working with immigrants) and through speaking engagements at bookstores, book festivals, and book clubs nationwide. My objectives: To use my writing, editing and people skills to help organizations and individuals communicate whatever message or stor

Expertise

  • Writer 25 Years
  • Editor 15 Years
  • Book Author 12 Years

Specialty

  • Health
  • Arts & Humanities
  • Environment & Nature

Industries

  • Magazine - Large Consumer/National magazines 20 Years
  • Book publishing - all 12 Years
  • Academia Teaching 8 Years

Media Client List (# Assignments Last 2 Yrs)

  • PARADE magazine(10+)
  • The New York Times(3-5)

Computer skills

=

Awards

*Honorable Mention for the 2018 Folio Eddie Award for “Range of Work by Single Author” for Parade. *Winner of the 2016 Folio Eddie Award for Parade's “What People Earn” cover story. *Recipient of the Heart of America Award for the Best Series/Magazine Category for USA Weekend. * My novel A Simple Thing (HarperCollins, 2012), was nominated for a Library of Virginia Literary Award. * My novel Leaving Haven (HarperCollins, 2013) was a Target Emerging Author pick.