About
Karen Schnurstein's recent poetry has appeared in Bi Women Quarterly and Adelaide Literary Magazine, in Canadian magazines Halcyon Days and Founder's Favourites, and in U.K.-based Steel Jackdaw Magazine. Her poem "Sunflowers in August" was a Best Poem finalist in an Adelaide contest. Karen's early poetry has been published in Rat's Ass Review, The Dawn Review, and New Feathers Anthology. Her college poem "Little Brown Girl" was longlisted in a Folly Journal (New Zealand) contest, and her college poem "Safely Tonight, or Every Woman's Blues" has been nominated for this year's Best of the Net Anthology.
Karen holds a B.A. in Creative Writing with a minor in World Literature from Western Michigan University, where she studied with Nancy Eimers, Jaimy Gordon, and Mark Halliday. She owes much of her literary life to her high school Language Arts instructor, Louise Garcia Harrison; however, scholar, writer, and poet Mark Richardson was her first literature professor. Louise gave the key, and Mark opened the door. Having spent most of her life in Michigan, Karen now enjoys living in the South Bend area of Indiana.
Karen was interviewed this year by The Dawn Review regarding her college poem "Safely Tonight, or Every Woman's Blues." Read the blog article here.