ABOUT KAREN

I once visited an egg farm on an elementary school field trip. This was in the driftless area of southwestern Wisconsin, so called because the land there was never covered by the glacial deposits known as drift; gravel, sand, silt, and boulders.

In my ignorance, I had always believed it meant that the earth itself hadn’t drifted, that its permanence was steadfast as the moon, rooting people to the land and refusing to let them wander too far. Maybe there’s some truth in that. I do know this: When our school bus came over a rise and I got my first glimpse of the wide valleys of farmland before me, something within that may have been straining at the bit, instead, settled for good. 

I'm a Chicago-based writer, though I've never been able to shake my Wisconsin roots growing up on the backwaters of the Mississippi River. Ice fishing in a onesie will do that to a person.

My short stories and essays have been published by various journals and literary magazines, regionally and in the U.K. I’m a mother to two Gen Z daughters, and enjoy the steadfast support of my husband, (speaker, coach, writer, and griller of meats), Steve Multer. I’m currently working on my first novel, “The Special Ones.”