© Shawn Patton

Karen Novak was born on February 10, 1958 in Dallas, Texas. Most of her childhood was spent in La Cañada-Flintridge, a suburb of Los Angeles where, already inspired to write, she spent her twenty-five cent allowance on paper and pencils.  In 1976 she attended Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington for a year before moving to Montreal, Quebec, ultimately pursuing a degree in psychology at Concordia University, which she was awarded in 1979.  After college she moved with her husband to Concord, New Hampshire and then to Norwich, New York.  It was during these moves, and after having two children that Karen Novak decided to begin actively pursuing her writing.

In 1994, Karen and her family moved to Mason, Ohio, where she completed her BA in writing and film studies at The Union Institute. In 1996, her short story Jackpot won an honourable mention in Cincinnati Magazine, and her first novel, Five Mile House, came out in 2000. Bloomsbury will publish her second novel, Ordinary Monsters, in June 2002.