Several years ago, while working on Mother of Rain, the beginning of the Appalachian novels I wrote, I snuck in late to the evening service at Christians Bend Church in Tennessee. I had not been in the church since 1968. The last time I[..]
I just got off the phone with our son. Stephan is living in Columbus, Georgia, the town I grew up in. Of all the people I expected to live in Georgia, I never expected it to be our son. But as Mary Engelbreit so[..]
Editor's Note: The following is an interview conducted by Shepherd University staff as part of the Appalachian Writers in Residence award. You can learn more about this program at shepherd.educ I am honored to have been selected Shepherd U's AHWIR for 2018. I will visiting[..]
In late February, four short weeks ago now, a letter arrived in my inbox. I was on the phone with a big city New York agent working out details for another literary event, for another author, when I clicked open the email from Jason Howard,[..]
Karen Spears Zacharias is an Appalachian writer, a former journalist, and author of numerous books, both fiction and non-fiction.
She holds a MA in Appalachian Studies from Shepherd University, Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and a MA in Creative Media Practice from the University of West Scotland, Ayr, Scotland.
Her debut novel Mother of Rain received the Weatherford Award for Best in Appalachian Fiction from The Loyal Jones Appalachian Center at Berea College, Kentucky.
Zacharias was named Appalachian Heritage Writer in 2018 by Shepherd University.
Her work has been featured on National Public Radio, CNN, the New York Times, Washington Post and in numerous anthologies.
She lives at the foot of the Cascade Mountains in Deschutes County, Oregon, where she’s an active member of the League of Women Voters and Central Oregon Writers Guild. She is a member of Phi Beta Delta and Phi Kappa Phi. A Gold Star daughter, she is a fierce advocate for democratic principles and women’s rights.
Zacharias taught First-Amendment Rights at Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington, and continues to teach at writing workshops around the country.
Her forthcoming novel No Perfect Mothers will be released by Mercer University Press, Spring 2024.
For more information on Karen and her books, click here
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