Kevin Burns is an Ottawa-based writer, editor, and researcher with a focus on broad cultural and social issues. He has seen some 300 books make their way into print in the commercial and academic publishing worlds. He has an extensive background in publishing, having developed and edited many non-fiction titles in theology, spirituality, religion, faith and culture, history, philosophy, and biography as the former commissioning editor at Novalis.
As a writer and editor he draws on his experiences in the Canadian arts and cultural scene and from his work as the former producer of The Arts Report for CBC Radio and has created documentaries for CBC Radio's Ideas. His documentary on Henri Nouwen, Genius Born of Anguish (co-authored with Michael W. Higgins and co-produced with Bernie Lucht) was also the basis of his first co-authored book: Henri Nouwen - Genius Born of Anguish, published in 2012 by Novalis in Canada and Paulist Press in the United States. The CBC Ideas series received the Gold Medal Award for Documentary at the 2013 New York Festivals.
Besides his trade publishing background, he is also familiar with scholarly and academic publishing after teachinig for twelve years in the Department of Drama at the University of Alberta. He is actively engaged in governance and volunteerism in the Canadian not-for-profit sector. From 2007-2016, he served on the board of governors of St. Jerome's University, the Catholic university federated to the University of Waterloo. In 2016 he joined the national board of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB).
Also in 2016, the U.S. publisher Franciscan Media released his first sole-authored book, his biography, Henri Nouwen: His Life and Spirit which was on the shortlist for that year's Ottawa Book Award. A German translation was released the following year by Adeo Verlag. The U.S. edition received a Catholic Press Association award for biography at its 2017 awards ceremony. His most recent book, released in 2019 and also co-authored with Michael W. Higgins, Impressively Free - Henri Nouwen as a Model for a Reformed Priesthood, is published in Canada by Novalis and by Paulist Press in the U.S.
In addition to The Writers' Union of Canada, Kevin Burns is a member of Editors Canada (formerly The Editors' Association of Canada), WGC: The Writers Guild of Canada, and The Creative Non-Fiction Colletive.
