About Carina

A Storyteller in sheep's clothing
"Storytelling is as much a harvesting as it is a hunt for the treasure of connection, belonging, and depth of feeling - for both reader and writer." — Carina Costom

Carina was born in Montreal, has a BA (Hons) from McGill University, and  has been involved with the Black Bear Review as Managing Editor this academic year (2020/2021) . Her Editorials have been published in The Nelson Star and her lyrical personal essay The Xerophyte  in The Black Bear Review. She's received two Selkirk College UAS Awards of Excellence and has been chipping away at an Artist Residency in Motherhood since 2017. Her chapbook Sound Dance continues to lurk in second hand bookstores. She is currently working on a collection of short stories and microcasts. There is so much to co-create and harvest!

She has occupied several roles at Black Bear including:
  • member of the non-fiction editorial committee
  • M.E. collaborating with three editorial committees (fiction, non-fiction and poetry),
  •  co-creator of "This Black Bear Has 28 Minutes - A Koots Arts & Culture Podcast"
  • Zoom co-host
  • microcast guest post contributor
  • committed student of creative writing and literature

Prior to these passion projects, Carina was an experienced communications, public relations and employment specialist in the nonprofit sector (KCDS, Nelson at its Best, Make a Change Canada, Touchstones Museum). In essence,  Carina was already honing her storytelling chops while benefiting nonprofits, individual job seekers and educational institutions for over 15 years.

With her varied professional background as a graphic designer (brand identity development), copy writer, youth facilitator, employment counselor (KCDS, Make a Change Canada), Board member in the non-profit sector (KCDS, Nelson and District Arts Council/NDAC under Pat Henman’s leadership), media analyst (AC Nielsen Market Research), and acquisitions assistant for film rights (Films 2000 –Eastern European Art films), Carina continues to bring a breadth of experiences to her co-creative adventures, professional pursuits, and hunts for storytelling gold in exciting new and accessible formats while playing with intermodal translations (e.g., essay to microcast, chapbooks to spoken word, and short collections of essays to microcasts and seminars). 

You get the picture. For further details please consult latest news and the resources below:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carinacostom/
Follow her on Facebook.com/CarinaCostom@KootenayAuthor

Image: Martin Bisof @mbisof. Sheep Grazing. Free download.