Karen writes both fiction and creative nonfiction. Her memoir, Surrendered Child,  won the AWP Award Series for Creative Nonfiction and was listed as a  “notable book” by the National Book Critics Circle. She is also the author of Motel of the Stars, Editor's Pick from Oxford American,  and a Lit Life Book of the Year.  Strange Birds in the Tree of  Heaven (University of Georgia Press), a novel that won the Lillie  Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writing and, most recently, Walk Till the Dogs Get Mean,  co-edited with Adrian Blevins, from Ohio University Press.  Her essays have won the Annie Dillard Prize, the New Southerner Prize, the Orison  Magazine Anthology Award and have several times been Notable in Best  American Essays.  A collection of her essays is forthcoming from Iris  Books.  Her newest book, a novel called Wanting Radiance, will be released in April 2020 from University Press of Kentucky.

Karen has an MFA in Fiction Writing from the University of Virginia, an MA in  Creative Writing from Hollins University, and a PhD from the University of Georgia, where she studied American Literature and Fiction Writing.  Her work has received numerous awards, including grants from the  National Endowment for the Arts, the North Carolina Arts Council, and the Kentucky Foundation for Women. She is frequently visiting writer and lecturer at a variety of programs and reading series.

Karen is a lover of lakes, animals, sunlight, and her native Appalachian tongue.