Karen Autio

Readings

Karen welcomes the opportunity to talk about the writing process and to share her passion for researching history and writing historical fiction. During Karen's 60-minute interactive presentation, she will:

• engage students in Canadian history with a lively, visually appealing presentation
• spark enthusiasm for writing
• focus on the immigrant experience with curricular tie-ins
• read a brief excerpt from one of her books
• reveal how family stories inspired her to write novels
• explore with students how family history can inspire their own stories
• unravel the process of publishing and book design
• include time for students to ask questions
• conclude with a draw for door prizes

Second Watch, Karen’s novel based on the 1914 Empress of Ireland shipwreck, captivates both boys and girls and works particularly well as a novel study to prepare the students to receive maximum benefit from her presentation.

For more information, please visit www.karenautio.com/SchoolVisits.html

Special Equipment:

One large table or two medium-size tables for presentation material.

Book Sales:

Copies of books can be brought to be sold and autographed.

Biography

After growing up horse-crazy and book-loving in Nipigon, Ontario, Canada, Karen Autio now lives in Kelowna, BC, only a little less horse-crazy and far more book-loving. Karen graduated from the University of Waterloo and worked as a software developer for several years, then decided to pursue her long held dream of writing for children. She signed up for a “Writing Fiction for Children” course at the local college, joined a writers’ group, and began writing—and re-writing—her stories.

Karen is the author of two published historical novels for ages 10 and up, with another book under contract. Her book Second Watch was inspired by the tale of a silver sugar spoon from her Finnish grandmother and the wreck of the Canadian Pacific steamship Empress of Ireland in 1914. The sequel, Saara's Passage, was inspired by the mystery surrounding Karen’s Finnish grandmother’s battle with tuberculosis in a sanatorium and the letters she wrote to her infant daughter while quarantined at home with TB.

Both books have been shortlisted for the BC Chocolate Lily Award. Karen loves to interact with students, sharing her journey to becoming an author and her passion for research and the resulting “jigsaw puzzle” of transforming historical facts into a fascinating story.

When she’s not writing, editing, or reading, Karen enjoys traveling, cycling, canoeing on a lake, or meeting friends for coffee. Karen is a member of the Children’s Writers and Illustrators of BC, the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers, and the Board of Directors of the Cool Arts Society.