Abby Klinkenberg is a writer & editor specializing in that dazzling intersection between art & politics. You can find her in either Berlin or San Francisco.
Informed by feminist, queer, and decolonial theory, I’m particularly interested in how power, both seen and unseen, shapes our daily lives.
United Nations
2021 – Present
As a research, editorial, and design consultant for the UN Resident Coordinator Office (RCO) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, I support the RCO in implementing the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). More specifically, I finalized Saudi Arabia’s UN Cooperation Framework 2022 – 2026, updated its 2021 Common Country Analysis, and independently managed the writing and publication of its 2021 Country Results Report.
FairPlanet
2021 – Present
I research and write a weekly ‘solutions journalism’ column on political and cultural issues relating to social and environmental justice in Western Europe for FairPlanet, a non-profit journalistic platform and news organization that seeks to support the human struggle towards a better way of living.
Freelance Editor
2012 – Present
For over nine years, I have worked as a freelance editor in both academic and journalistic contexts. Most recently, I edited two books dealing with colonial history and its consequences: Histories of Scale: Java, the Indies and Asia in the Imperial Age, 1820-1945 (Galda Verlag, 2021) and Social Ontology, Sociocultures, and Inequality in the Global South (Routledge, 2020).
Opinary GmbH
2019 – 2021
As the International Newsroom Partnerships & Content Lead for the Berlin-based media-tech company Opinary, I managed the company’s international client portfolio from an editorial angle. Working with blue-chip titles like Financial Times, MSNBC, Times of London, and The Economist, I provided daily content and trend analysis for these titles concerning the US and UK news cycles.
Oxford Business Group
2018 – 2019
As an economic and social analyst for the Oxford Business Group, I wrote a series of sectoral updates on African and Asian economies and contributed in-depth chapters to OBG’s 2018 Country Reports on Tunisia, Djibouti, and Algeria. Conducting interviews with business stakeholders and government officials in both English and French, I analyzed the state of these countries’ tourism, health, and education sectors.
KPFA Radio
2017
Having listened to the Berkeley-based KPFA Radio (part of the Pacifica Radio network) throughout my childhood, I leapt at the chance to support the content and production of the daily “Letters & Politics” show, hosted by Mitch Jeserich. In addition to booking expert guests and researching for segments, I became familiar with sound editing, podcast production, live radio production, and even found myself interviewing renowned intellectuals like Franco Berardi and George Yancy.
In These Times Magazine
2017
Working in a newsroom setting in Chicago, Illinois, I supported the magazines’s print and digital editorial processes. In addition to fact-checking and copy editing articles, as well as updating and maintaining the website, I also wrote pieces for the publication. At the time, In These Times shared an office with Jacobin, which led to a number of provocative and stimulating cross-team exchanges.
UCLA Political Science Department
2012 – 2014
For two years, I supported the work of Professor Brian Esparza-Walker of the UCLA Political Science Department. Finding myself heavily engaged with his area of expertise — political philosophy — I researched for and edited Professor Walker’s manuscript, From Confucianism to Cybernetics: Environmental Counterculture and Chinese Cultivation Theory. His thoughts on cross-cultural understandings of civic responsibility continue to inform my own work.
Office of US Senator Dianne Feinstein
(D-CA)
2012
Eager to get a taste of governing from the inside, I supported the Senator’s Los Angeles office in a public relations and research capacity. I spent time responding to the public on behalf of the Senator in both written and oral forms and ensured that the Senator was kept up to date regarding political developments in both Los Angeles and the wider Southern California region.
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
2012
After receiving UCLA’s D.C. Fellows Internship Scholarship, I supported the work of New York Times journalist Dr. Lawrence Altman and Georgetown History and African American Studies Professor Maurice Jackson at the WWICS. Conducting research for their respective books and editing their drafts, the crowning achievement of my time in DC was helping Dr. Altman write the NYT feature, “Hasty and Ruinous 1972 Pick Colors Today’s Hunt for a No. 2.”