Karen E. Stokes began her literary journey in 2010, writing purely to see where it would lead, hence her first novel ‘An Ordinary Life’ was finally published in 2014, under a different name. The work was biographical, written in the third person using a fictional character, which she found incredibly grounding and therapeutic, fuelling her desire to continue.

Born and bred in Sheffield – a ‘true Yorkshire lass’, as they say, she was raised amid shop-keeping and a tight-knit community by parents who were both articulate and creative, and as such, inherited many skills with which to occupy her time.

She clearly remembers a love of reading from an early age through to her teens, with a passion for poems and limericks, evident in a recent discovery of a piece she wrote about her father when only ten years old, which demonstrates an early talent for rhyme and phrasing. As she grew older, among her favourite authors were Fay Weldon and Martin Amis.

As a versatile creative, she is also a successful digital artist and is commissioned by an art licensing agency based in Florida.  Her work as a musician spans more than twenty years in the entertainment business, performing solo and in various bands and collaborations.

Still in Sheffield, she lives with her husband and ‘puss-cat’, busy pursuing her love of writing.