C.J. Janovy: Bio

I'm a journalist in Kansas City who's been around long enough to be called a "veteran."  

I am currently working with a few other journalists to launch a Kansas outpost for States Newsroom, a national network of nonprofit news outlets dedicated to covering state governments. 

Until June 2020, I oversaw digital content for KCUR, the city’s NPR affiliate, where I also reported on arts and culture. 

Previously, I enjoyed a long tenure as a writer and editor in the alt-weekly glory days. I spent a decade as editor of The Pitch, Kansas City’s Village Voice Media-owned publication, where our writers won numerous national and local journalism awards and were published in two Best Food Writing anthologies (Marlowe & Company, 2006 and 2007), two Best American Sports Writing anthologies (Houghton & Mifflin, 2005 and 2006) and Da Capo Best Music Writing 2008. I wrote long-form magazine stories, columns and blog posts on a range of topics, including culture and politics in Kansas. 

All of which informed my book "No Place Like Home: Lessons in Activism from LGBT Kansas" (University Press of Kansas, January 2018). It's the epic story of how a few disorganized and politically naive Kansans, realizing they were unfairly under attack, rolled up their sleeves, went looking for fights, and ended up making friends in one of the country's most hostile states. Or, as I like to think of it, a love story.

I’m a lesbian, and a Midwesterner by birth and ultimately by choice. I grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, but I’ve also lived on the West Coast (English degree from the University of California at Berkeley) and back East (master’s in creative writing from Boston University). My longtime partner and I married in July 2015, as soon as it was legal in every state.

Find some of my past work here.