About Keili
Keili Bartlett is an award-winning journalist based on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. Her favourite stories happen outside.
Keili has lived up and down the east coast of Canada and the United States, in two states and five provinces. Since graduating with her Bachelor of Journalism (Honours) from the University of King’s College (Halifax), Keili has worked for CBC in England and central Newfoundland, created content for the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and worked on two issues of Where Canadian Rockies magazine. In 2017, she moved to British Columbia to work for community newspapers in Prince Rupert, Victoria, Squamish, and Sechelt.
After the better part of a decade reporting the news in coastal, underreported communities, Keili found herself pitching more and more stories that take her into nature and interviewing scientists. Between town council meetings and breaking news, she decided to pursue more in-depth reporting on the environment. In 2025, Keili graduated from the University of King’s College with her master’s in Creative Nonfiction Writing and Publishing.
Now a freelance environmental journalist, her byline appears in The Tyee, Magic Canoe, Coast Life and more. Keili is also the managing editor of the World of Orcas, a monthly print-only zine founded by The Orca Man.
October Haze. Shot for Coast Reporter, October 2022
Awards, Grants and Residencies
2026 Orion Environmental Writers’ Workshop, Rhinebeck, NY
2025 the Linda Souter Humanities Award from the Canadian Federation of University Women
2024 Canada Graduate Scholarships - Master’s Program research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
2024 Banff Centre Mountain Writers Intensive 3-week Residency
2023 Silver Canadian Community Newspaper Award for “How a regenerative farm in the heart of Sechelt hopes to heal”
2023 Silver Ma Murray for feature photograph “October Haze,” shot for Coast Reporter during air quality warnings.
2022 Steven Chua and Keili earned a silver award from the Canadian Community Newspaper Awards (via News Media Canada) for their feature story on people living in vans, “Home is where you park it”.
2020 an editorial team Keili was part of earned a gold Ma Murray Award for a multimedia story about police training.
2018 Keili earned a gold Ma Murray alongside the Prince Rupert Northern View team for their multimedia feature story about Hammy the Deer’s celebrity status.