Kristin Scharkey

 
 
 

Kristin Scharkey is a writer and editor based in California, who currently serves as a senior content strategist at MediaNews Group and Tribune Publishing. Previously, she served as a top editor at Sunset and DESERT magazines, and led an award-winning team of reporters at The Desert Sun in the USA Today Network.

Kristin earned both her undergraduate journalism degree and MFA in creative nonfiction at Northwestern University, where she was a Division I softball player. She’s been honored by the California News Publishers Association for her writing and editing. Her work has also appeared in Hearst Newspapers, ESPN and more.

Kristin has made appearances on CBS News Radio, KCOD, KPCC, and other media. She’s been interviewed about her work by USA Today and about her softball career by Northwestern Magazine and OC Register. She launched a magazine events series that was highlighted by INMA. She also served as a coach for the Storytellers Project, and told her story of moving to the desert for the series. Her work has been cited by books such as The Invention of the American Desert and Women’s College Softball on the Rise.

 
 

selected WRITING

The Western wellness revolution, Sunset Magazine, 2022

Lost ship of the desert, DESERT magazine & USA Today, 2019 *1st place, Writing, California News Publishers Association

Is the Instagram generation filtering Joshua Tree’s true character? DESERT magazine, 2017 *Listen to my interview about the story on 89.3 KPCC's "Take Two."

Integratron sound bath a ‘transformative’ experience, DESERT magazine, 2016

Desert homesteads abandoned, not forgotten, DESERT magazine, 2016