Editorial Freelancers Association
Member Profile
Jo Pitkin
Pear Tree Hill Editorial Services
I hold a B.A. in Creative Writing and Literature from Kirkland College and an M.F.A. in Poetry from the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. I worked as an editor in the Secondary English Department at Houghton Mifflin Company in Boston where I wrote and edited materials for the inaugural edition of Houghton Mifflin English: Grammar and Composition, Grades 7 to 12. Since 1983 I have worked full time as a freelance educational writer for major textbook publishers, supplemental publishers, developers, and children’s trade publishers throughout the United States and the UK. My clients have included Apprentice Shop Books, Houghton Mifflin, D.C. Heath, Prentice Hall, Pearson, Perfection Learning, McDougal Littell, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Glencoe, Macmillan McGraw-Hill, National Geographic, Silver Burdett & Ginn, and Curriculum Associates, Inc.
My extensive experience includes researching and writing elementary, middle level, high school, and college textbook materials (PEs, TEs, and ancillaries) in a range of subject areas including literature, grammar and composition, reading, spelling, social studies, and health. I have written both print and online materials for national and state-specific products. I am very familiar with CCSS, SBAC, and PARCC.
Some titles for which I am the credited author include Bill Pickett: Rodeo King (Houghton Mifflin), Stargazing: A History of the Telescope (Macmillan McGraw-Hill), and ZOOM IN on Comparing and Contrasting, Books E – G (Curriculum Associates).
In addition to textbook writing, I am a published, award-winning poet. My books include Cradle of the American Circus: Poems from Somers, New York (The History Press, 2012), Commonplace Invasions (Salmon Poetry, 2014), Rendering (Salmon Poetry, 2017), and Village: Recession (Salmon Poetry, 2020).
Years in the field: 35
Years freelancing: 36
Jo Pitkin
I hold a B.A. in Creative Writing and Literature from Kirkland College and an M.F.A. in Poetry from the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. I worked as an editor in the Secondary English Department at Houghton Mifflin Company in Boston where I wrote and edited materials for the inaugural edition of Houghton Mifflin English: Grammar and Composition, Grades 7 to 12. Since 1983 I have worked full time as a freelance educational writer for major textbook publishers, supplemental publishers, developers, and children’s trade publishers throughout the United States and the UK. My clients have included Apprentice Shop Books, Houghton Mifflin, D.C. Heath, Prentice Hall, Pearson, Perfection Learning, McDougal Littell, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Glencoe, Macmillan McGraw-Hill, National Geographic, Silver Burdett & Ginn, and Curriculum Associates, Inc.
My extensive experience includes researching and writing elementary, middle level, high school, and college textbook materials (PEs, TEs, and ancillaries) in a range of subject areas including literature, grammar and composition, reading, spelling, social studies, and health. I have written both print and online materials for national and state-specific products. I am very familiar with CCSS, SBAC, and PARCC.
Some titles for which I am the credited author include Bill Pickett: Rodeo King (Houghton Mifflin), Stargazing: A History of the Telescope (Macmillan McGraw-Hill), and ZOOM IN on Comparing and Contrasting, Books E – G (Curriculum Associates).
In addition to textbook writing, I am a published, award-winning poet. My books include Cradle of the American Circus: Poems from Somers, New York (The History Press, 2012), Commonplace Invasions (Salmon Poetry, 2014), Rendering (Salmon Poetry, 2017), and Village: Recession (Salmon Poetry, 2020).
