Nancy Dutra

I am a Toronto-based journalist, essayist, and editor with bylines in Toronto Life, Toronto Star, Today’s Parent, This Magazine, and more. (I am not the Brazilian journalist of the same name. She is younger, thinner, and far more attractive, and I’m good, fine, okay with that.) Of my editing work, I joke that I was born to point out other people’s mistakes.

Though I hold an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of King’s College/Dalhousie University, I am especially proud to have graduated with a BA Hons HD from The University of Toronto at the tender age of 42, and to have won a writing award for best essay for Country Music and The Performance of Authenticity: Hank Williams and Luke the Drifter. 

Certified by The Royal Conservatory of Music as a Mentor Artist, I have delivered dozens of workshops in schools across Ontario, where I partnered with teachers to bring curriculum to life through songwriting and creative writing. I also guided artists in delivering dynamic classroom workshops effectively. A self-described coffee snob, I’m always chasing the perfect cup between various projects.

I previously worked as a performing singer-songwriter. My album, Time Will Tell, charted on the Euro Americana Chart and received favourable reviews and writeups from CBC, Exclaim, NOW, No Depression, The Whole Note, Roots Music Canada, and BlogTO. I was fortunate to work with some of Canada’s finest musicians. 

I serve as President/Chair of the Creative Nonfiction Collective Society and sit as a juror for the Polaris Music Prize. Serving the literary and music communities is my deep honour.