About Carrie

I’m one of the lucky ones who always knew what she wanted to do when she grew up. From the time of willow crowns and those big red Dixon primary pencils, I knew I wanted to be a writer, and I’ve now been a professional writer and communicator for two decades. Clients have flown me all over Europe, the U.S., and Canada to write for them. I’ve won industry awards across North America, and, here at home, I’ve been a Canadian Marketing Association judge. 

In recent years, my ghostwriting has been spoken to rooms of thousands. It’s been published under a bestselling author’s name. It’s been read by millions of app users. 

Read more about the story of my work >

For me, written language is a meeting place.

I am the daughter of a history teacher and a steel maven. I am a descendent of impoverished, illiterate French colonizers; Irish and Ukrainian refugees; and Menominee and Metis Nations. I come from settlers who deforested and first inhabitants who stewarded the forests. Where this complexity of relationship, this tangle of lineage makes most sense to me is in nature, and in writing. Where I find a sense of belonging are in land and language.

Carrie Klassen is a gifted writer who crafts her sentences with beauty and aplomb. She’s an extraordinary listener, with deep, clear-eyed intuition. Perhaps most exceptionally, she has a secret, mystical power: she knows how to put the inexpressible into words.

Sarah Selecky, author of Radiant Shimmering Light

Here are some of the things I believe.

I believe in justice and love and I believe that language is one of the ways we can honour both. I believe in words. Words transfer ideas from one mind to another, feelings from one heart to another. I believe they matter (and they’re energy) and that it’s important to choose them with care and skill. 

Related: writing is political.

I am a white settler cisgender lady who was born into a time and place that favours those things and affords me privileges. I respect pronouns (mine are she/her). I do my best to avoid ableist language. I gently challenge clients when I think they mean better than the words they’ve chosen. I am fortunate to have committed equity, inclusion, and anti-oppression teachers in my life. I bring what I learn to my writing work. And I am still learning.

I want to do commerce that benefits people and doesn’t harm the planet.

Each month, a portion of all workbook sales go to health programs for Indigenous women, a helpline for LGBTQ2S+ kids, books for people who are incarcerated, support for teen parents, and the work of freeing prisoners of conscience. My office is powered with green energy and when air travel is necessary to be together IRL, I purchase VER+ Standard carbon offsets. I share these things because the clients who choose me tend to want to know where my community commitments are.

About the photography on this site: the pictures of me were taken by the incomparable talent that is Johnny CY Lam.

Read about my ghostwriting services, browse my writing guidebooks, or contact me.