Kristin Bair O'Keeffe

Kristin Bair O’Keeffe is the author of The Art of Floating, a novel inspired by a New York Times article she read in a cafe, and Thirsty. Her articles, essays, and short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Hypertext, Bluestem, Poets & Writers Magazine, The Gettysburg Review, The Baltimore Review, The Christian Science Monitor, Oriental Outlook Weekly, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, San Diego Family Magazine, and other publications. She was also featured in THRIVE: 34 Women, 18 Countries, 1 Goal, a collection of memoirs that profiles the lives of women who “moved to Shanghai and redefined success for themselves.”

With an M.F.A. in creative writing from Columbia College Chicago and a B.A. in English and journalism from Indiana University (Bloomington), Kristin has been teaching fiction and nonfiction writing workshops for the past nineteen years. Throughout her career, she’s helped hundreds of students become better writers, gain confidence in their process and their work, and learn to navigate the publishing world. In addition to teaching as a private coach and workshop instructor, she has taught at Montserrat College of Art, Endicott College, Columbia College Chicago, Boston College, and the University of New Hampshire. She’s been lucky enough to teach all kinds of folks: young kids, troubled teens, much-wiser-than-her older folks, grad students, executives, undergrads, visual artists, expats, homeless moms, and more.

In 2006, Kristin got married and moved to Shanghai, China. When she wasn’t out exploring old Shanghai lanes and writing about her host country, she taught expat writers from all around the world, curated “Out Loud! The Shanghai Writers Literary Salon,” and was a frequent speaker and moderator at the annual Shanghai International Literary Festival. Not surprisingly, she learned a heck of a lot about herself, as well as this wonderfully complex world we live in.

Kristin is also a mom, a traveler, a blogger, a cultural spelunker, a speaker, and a social media enthusiast. In late 2010, after nearly five years in China, she repatriated to the United States and now lives in Massachusetts with her husband, daughter, and big dog Boinga.