Kristina Cowan
Author of When Postpartum Packs a Punch: Fighting Back and Finding Joy
Most children bring toys into the bath, but I took pencils and paper, and wrote stories. Historical fiction, for instance, about pilgrims celebrating the first Thanksgiving in the New World. Most 5-year-olds borrow library books from the kids’ section. I wandered to the grown-up science section, and took home something on Prosimian biology. I wanted to see the world beyond the rusty fringes of Cleveland, where I grew up.
I got the chance when Northwestern University accepted my college application. I graduated from the School of Speech, and returned for a graduate degree in journalism. Degrees in hand, I chased stories in Washington, D.C. There I worked as a full-time reporter and editor, met my future husband, and stayed for almost eight years. I covered education, and later, energy policy on Capitol Hill.
I felt at home inside the Beltway’s frenzied corridors. But when the chance came to purse freelancing full-time, I seized it. A few years later, my husband and I moved back to Chicago, where we had our first child. A few years after that, I had another baby. As a new mom, I was grateful for the flexibility of freelancing.
Motherhood has introduced a new life balance, and with it, new editorial projects. I launched two writing-critique groups, and I started writing about grief, loss, and mental health. My first book, about my own encounter with postpartum depression and the experiences of other parents around the world, was published by Praeclarus Press in the spring of 2017.
You can find my CV here.
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