Karen Auvinen

Creative Nonfiction Writer

Black Hawk, CO
Colorado US

Author's Bio

Karen Auvinen is an award-winning poet, mountain woman, life-long westerner, writer, educator, speaker, and the author of the memoir Rough Beauty: Forty Seasons of Mountain Living (Scribner).

Her work has appeared in The New York Times, LitHub, Real Simple, Westword, and The Rumpus, as well as numerous literary journals. A collection of short stories is forthcoming. She is working on a novel.

Karen is the founder of Writing Wild Workshops and is on the Graduate Faculty in Nature Writing at Western Colorado University and also teaches writing workshops at Lighthouse Writers Workshop, and for Fishtrap Writing the West in addition to teaching film, pop culture, and storytelling to first-years at the CU – Boulder.

Karen lives in the Colorado mountains with the artist Greg Marquez, their dog River, and Dottie the Cat.

Writers Retreats: 
Literary agent: 
Sam Chidley - The Karpfinger Agency

Publications & Prizes

Book:
Rough Beauty: Forty Seasons of Mountain Living (Scribner, 2018)
Prizes won: 

Barrry Lopez Creative Nonfiction Prize

Finalist, Colorado Book Award

Finalist, Willa Award

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Award

Two Acadamy of American Poets Awards

Best 10 Books of June. For Rough Beauty. Christian Science Monitor. June 2018

Pushcart Prize Nominee. Dec 2014. “The Karate Boys.”  Nominated by Ascent Literary Journal.

Finalist. Writers@Work Poetry Fellowship. April, 2005.

Pushcart Prize Nominee. Dec 2004. “My Mother’s Last Car.”  Nominated by The             Cimarron Review.

First Runner-Up. Poets & Writers Writers Exchange Contest. Poetry. 2003.

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
Linda Hogan, Louise Erdrich, Rick Bass, Gretel Ehrlich, Robert Macfarlane, Debra Magpie Earling, Leslie Marmon Silko.
What I'm reading now: 
True West by Betsy Gaines Quammen

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
Feminist, Scandinavian American
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Born in: 
Reno, NV
Nevada
Raised in: 
CO
Colorado
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Aug 18, 2024