Katherine (Kate) Mary Bitney: born in 1946 in Aldershot,
UK; immigrated to Canada with family in 1951. Part of the infamous
baby boom generation, she grew up in Saskatchewan in the 1950s
and early 60s, and graduated high school from the long-defunct
Sion Academy in Saskatoon in 1964. She has lived in Winnipeg
since 1971.
During the 70s Katherine had a career in advertising, working for radio, television
and several advertising agencies. A single mother with a child to raise, she
put her ability with writing to work to support this small family. Advertising
taught her a great deal about language economy and getting a message across in
a very few well-chosen words and images.
In the late 70s and early 80s, Katherine turned her attention
to the local literary world. She was a founding member of the
Winnipeg Writers’ Workshop and later the Manitoba Writers’ Guild,
and a founding editor of Writers News Manitoba, now better
known as Prairie Fire magazine. For these she served as board
member, poetry editor, envelope stuffer, stamp-licker, typist,
assembler and stapler, and conference and readings organizer.
In 1979 she returned to
university to finish the BA she had begun in 1964 at the University of Saskatchewan.
Katherine had started that degree in French
literature, but by the time it was done, she was hooked on a very old personal
passion, religion.
Katherine has had a number of careers: advertising,
organizing, editing, teaching, writing. The role of teacher
snuck up on her, in both writing and in the academy. She
found herself being asked to teach creative writing, and
over the years has been teaching with the Writers’ Guild’s
Mentor program, as a writer-in-residence, and privately as
well. She has taught it academically and informally. As well
she has taught religion, both as a
teaching assistant, and as a lecturer. She has spent
more than thirty years of her life in Winnipeg, working,
publishing, helping create community, raising a child, living
a life of both learning and teaching.
Katherine is married (to Andris Taskans, Editor
of Prairie Fire) and has an adult daughter from
her first marriage (Frances) who is currently working on
her doctorate in comparative literature at the University
of Alberta. Frances has thoughtfully provided Katherine with
three lovely granddaughters (Julia, Jasmine and Jessica),
so “grandmother” is a title she will happily claim here.
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