Karen was born in Australia, raised in England and came to Canada as a teenager. She credits her love of writing to the British schools she attended with their focus on creative writing. She was nine years old when she had her first piece published, which was a letter about Captain James Cook. Karen always carries a journal with her and works on her writing each day. Karen graduated from the University of Waterloo. She has recently retired from working at the University of Guelph Library. She lives in a small community outside of Guelph.