Katrina Onstad’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Elle, The Telegraph Magazine and Salon. Katrina was a film critic at National Post newspaper, and has written on arts, culture and society for Toronto Life, Maclean’s and Flare among other magazines.  At CBC.ca, she was head film critic and an on-line arts producer. For three years, she wrote the “Modern Times” column in Chatelaine.

Katrina’s first novel, How Happy to Be, was published to critical acclaim in 2006 by McClelland and Stewart. She is at work on her second novel.

Born and raised in Vancouver, B.C., Katrina has an English degree from McGill and a Master’s from University of Toronto. She lives in Toronto with her family.

Awards

Katrina won a John Howard Society Award for justice writing after a controversial cover story called “The Myth of Youth Crime” appeared in Saturday Night magazine when she was 26 years-old. In 2010, she won Gold at the National Magazine Awards in Canada for Best Arts Writing, and has been nominated over the years in several categories, including Best Columnist. In 2008, Katrina was a finalist for an American National Magazine Award in the Essay category for an article about high school sex scandals and female desire that ran in Elle.

Other Media

Katrina’s work in non-print media has included frequent appearances on CBC radio and television; TVO’s Saturday Night at the Movies and The Agenda; hosting events for the Toronto International Film Festival Group; and co-hosting the national film review show Reel to Real. She also does speaking and teaching engagements.