Get to Know Kathleen

Kathleen Furin holds an M.S.W. from Temple University and an M.F.A. in Fiction from New York University. She is a founding book coach with Author Accelerator and certified in the Amherst Writer’s and Artist’s method. She was the co-founder of the Maternal Wellness Center (Best of Philly 2006); as co-director she created and implemented a number of programs for women, families, and pregnant and parenting teens. 

Kathleen's story "Body Memory" won first place in the Tucson Festival of Books Literary Award competition. Her work has also been recognized with Honorable Mentions from Glimmer Train Press and the Yeo writing prize. Her story collection was a finalist for the Acacia Fiction Prize and her story "Mountain Pose"  was a finalist for the 2020 Curt Johnson Prose Awards. Her work has been published in the American Literary Review, Literary Mama, Philadelphia Stories, Midwifery Today, Mutha, Permafrost, among other journals and anthologies, and is forthcoming in So to Speak. 

She currently works as a consultant for Just Strategies, a consulting group which works with local communities and organizations on developing and centering best practices around equity and inclusion. At the Maternal Wellness Center, she developed the Sister Study Circle and Scholarship Program, which provided funding to women of color to pursue careers as midwives, doulas, and childbirth educators,  She also developed and implemented the Manifest program, a parenting program for men who are incarcerated, and spearheaded the Diverse Voices Scholarship Program at Author Accelerator. 

Photo credit: Edward Ortiz