Biography

Kim Cooper Findling was born in Seattle and grew up on the Oregon coast. Her early predilection was to spend those rainy childhood days in her room reading a book (and her rainy grade school recesses in the library doing the same), desires which effectively laid the groundwork for the life of a writer.

After earning a B.A. in Psychology from University of Oregon and a M.S. in Natural Resource Education from Oregon State University, she worked as an educator at The High Desert Museum in Bend before taking her writing seriously and sending out her earliest submissions. Her first big published piece was an essay for Runner’s World magazine’s back page. Everything went pretty well after that.

Today Kim writes and edits for many magazines and a wide range of professional organizations, as well as teaches writing workshops. She specializes in travel, essay, memoir and lifestyle. Her work has appeared in many magazines and literary journals including Alaska Air, Horizon Air, Sky West, Travel Oregon, Oregon Quarterly, Oregon Coast, Northwest Travel, High Desert Journal, Southern Oregon Magazine, Bend Living, Women’s Health and Fitness, Pregnancy and Seattle. She has been the contributing and copy editor of Central Oregon Magazine since 2007.

Kim wrote chapters for the books Best Places to Kiss in the Northwest, Day in the Life: Central Oregon, Back From War, and the anthology You’re Invited. Her essays have appeared on the websites hipmama.com and bikereader.com. “Witnessing,” an essay she wrote about her father’s experiences in Vietnam, was taught to reading students at Lane Community College.

Kim has authored two books, Day Trips from Portland: Getaway Ideas for the Local Traveler and Chance of Sun: An Oregon Memoir, a chapter from which won the 2011 Oregon Quarterly Northwest Perspectives Essay Contest. Her essay “A Better View” is included in Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Magic of Mothers and Daughters, released this March 2012.

Kim is an AskOregon Ambassador for Travel Oregon and a member of the board of BendFilm. She teaches writing workshops to children and adults.

Kim is currently working on a novel, a memoir and surviving midlife. She lives in Bend, Oregon, with her husband and two daughters, the three of them an endless source of joy and material.