Karen’s work explores the complexity of human relationships and choices. She is attuned to the absurdities of life, to the transgressive and the exotic, and to times of crisis that strip away defenses.

Meticulously researched, poetic and evocative, Karen’s writing transports readers to fully furnished worlds, and into the minds and hearts of the unforgettable characters who inhabit them.

Welcome, 2010.

It’s that time of year to make a few resolutions. I resolve to try new things.

Such as poetry. Poets encounter the materiality of words. Poets plan. They spend words wisely; they’re conscientious about images and allusions, and grammar. These are skills that can improve the quality of prose writing, by the way. (Though they cannot improve storytelling.)

Poems are shorter than novels. I could chip away at a line, a metaphor, a rhyme, using chunks of free time. I could carry a sentence or two around in my head while I’m polishing it.

And then there is the possibility of a captive audience, which is always fun. I know of at least two poetry circles who regularly solicit participants: the Ontario Poetry Society and the Canadian Federation of Poets. In Oakville, CFP meets every 3rd Thursday of the month at Timothy’s coffee shop.

Time to get writing…. Hmmm…how about “Ode to Poetry”….

Here are some other new things to tell you about….

My story “Durian Season” was just chosen as one of 12 finalists in the Writers’ Union of Canada Short Prose Competition 2009. Hooray!

I was surprised to learn there were 423 contest entries. “Durian Season” is also a chapter in my novel The Parasol Flower.
Burlington Public Library is hosting the awards for their all-nighter short story contest on January 27th at 7 pm. Fingers crossed! (My big lesson learned with this one: always spend some time away from a piece before trying to edit it!) UPDATE: Hey, I won 1st prize! Congratulations to fellow prizewinners Jennifer Mook Sang and Maria McDonald.

Click to read my story "Speechless," my winning story.

K.K. January 2010

About this New Author

Karen Kachra has a PhD in philosophy from Northwestern University in Chicago. Since venturing into the mainstream press, she has published short fiction in Maple Tree Literary Supplement and Flashquake, and creative non-fiction in Nebula, Philosophy Now and Mom Writer’s Literary Magazine (forthcoming). She is a critic for Ontario Arts Review. Karen lives in Oakville, Ontario with her husband and their two young children.