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My writing career
began in 1975 with a bylined series for The Welland Tribune. After
moving to Toronto in 1977 I earned a graphic arts degree from George Brown.
This led to work as a freelance copywriter, ghostwriter and eventually
a full-time illustrator for Mice In The Night.
In the eighties
I joined J. Walter Thompson as Head of the PC Support & Analysis
Department where I provided applications development and support to
nearly two hundred users across Canada. When the department was outsourced
in 1992 I took technical-writing contracts from companies like DeBeers
and Command Data.
From its second
issue, I was a staff writer for The Outrider, Ontario's first
newspaper for the homeless. By 1993 I was Assignment Editor working
under the direction of Rod Goodman (retired editor and ombudsman from
the Toronto Star) and Janice Hayes (news copy editor from The
Globe and Mail).
During this time
I wrote a column entitled "Ad Nauseam" which, under the banner
of advertising review, satirized media and politics.
The Outrider
folded in a relatively public fashion, and Lee Oliver tells the story
with much relish, and some accuracy, in The
Ryerson Review of Journalism Spring, 1995.
Following the
demise of The Outrider I returned to the University of Toronto
as a part-time student where I spent the next 6 years earning my Honours
BA as an English Specialist.
During my time
on campus:
-
As
Associate Editor of Ceangal (a small St. Michael's College
newsletter read by a handful of Celtic Studies students) I was a
key factor in helping it become a popular 'zine read not only by
hundreds of students, but by numerous patrons, and owners, of Toronto's
Irish and Scottish pubs.
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In
1996, based upon the success of Ceangal, I co-founded Celtic
Curmudgeon: Arts & Entertainment Review, out of Victoria College.
Its launch was covered by CBC's John Northcott, and our regular large
advertisers include MacArthur and Company as well as John Maxwell's
Allen's On The Danforth.
-
As
Editor of Curmudgeon, I have become a regular fixture at the
yearly Canadian Bookseller's Association's (CBA) trade show where
I meet and interview visiting authors like Ian Rankin, Maeve
Binchy and Colin Wilson.
During this time,
I worked as What's On Queen's Senior Staff Writer. My
duties included:
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Ongoing
columns like "Queen Street History" and "Bookstores
on Queen;"
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Regular
coverage of Queen Street art, (Robert Berlin, Menno Krant, Milton
Jewell, Dorothy Cameron),
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Regular
coverage of Queen Street events (Caribana, Word On the Street, Beaches
Studio Tour),
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Regular
coverage of Queen Street theatre (Michael Hollingsworth, Linda Griffiths),
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Seasonal
items such as our annual quest for Queen Street's best cafe (over
16 cafes visited, from one end of Queen to the other, in the course
of eight hours),
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Christmas
gift guides from a curmudgeon, and the yearly Halloween adventure.
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Satirical
pieces as needed.
And then there's
the book: The Strange and Curiously Forgotten History of Toronto.
-
In
1998 for What's On Queen (and again in 1999 for Celtic Curmudgeon)
I wrote of the the mysterious, and morbidly humorous, disappearance
of John Sheridan Hogan, a controversial Toronto MPP in 1859.
-
This
story, which includes the exploits of the Brookes' Bush Gang, a particularly
inept group of thieves and ruffians, caught the attention of Liz Bozma-Donovan
of the Riverdale Community Business Association, and through her,
the Toronto Heritage Society
-
The
Toronto Heritage Society asked me to host two Heritage Walks in the
Summer of 1999.
At
the next CBA show I interested a Toronto publisher with the idea of
a book looking at Toronto's lesser known, but unusual, history.
Looking for a mature,
educated, independent writer? One with an eye for detail and a wry sense
of humour? Someone with experience in dealing with the relatively famous,
who can intelligently review anything from Outsider Art to lesbian coming-of-age
theatre? If so, please e-mail kitsimpson@hotmail.com.
Current
projects: the Celtic Curmudgeon website; the circa2000.com
website, book-in-progress: The Strange and Curiously Forgotten History
of Toronto.
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