Karen Russell is the author of six books of fiction, including the NYT bestsellers Vampires in the Lemon Grove and Swamplandia!, one of the NYT’s ten best books of the year and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her latest novel, The Antidote, was the winner of the 2026 Pacific Northwest Book Awards and a finalist for the 2025 National Book Award and the 2026 National Book Critics Circle Award. She is the grateful recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the NYPL’s Young Lions Award, the Bard Fiction Prize, the National Book Foundation’s “5 under 35” award, and was selected for Granta’s Best Young American Novelists and The New Yorker’s “20 under 40” list (She is now decisively over 40). With Ellis Ludwig-Leone and Troy Schumacher, she co-created The Night Falls, one of the NYT’s Best Dance Performances of 2023. She serves on the board of Street Books. Born and raised in Miami, FL, she is a Professor of English and Creative Writing at Stanford University and lives in Berkeley, CA with her husband, son, and daughter.
Speaking Engagements
Karen Russell has been a keynote speaker, visiting lecturer, and guest teacher for AWP, The New Yorker Festival, North Words Writers Symposium, the University of Iowa’s Writers’ Workshop Ida Beam Series, Davidson College’s Joel O. Conarroe Lecture Series, the Bash Lecture Series, The Cabin Lecture Series, Minnesota State University Mankato/Good Thunder Reading Series, the Lannan Foundation Lecture Series, the Kingswood Oxford School Baird English Symposium, Writers in Paradise / Eckerd College’s Writers’ Conference, the PEN/Faulkner Gala, the New York Public Library, the Yale University’s Schlesinger Visiting Writers Series, and many other places. Upcoming engagements include Princeton University, New York University, Literary Arts, and Inprint Houston.
For more information about booking Karen for speaking engagements, visit her Speakers Bureau Page.
I can’t think of the last time we had a more generous, present guest. Her master class was incredibly smart and useful for our students, and the time she took with them individually was remarkable. 10/10, would love to bring her back!
Interlochen Arts Academy
Wonderful, genuine, connected with the audience, personable, and took time to talk with each person at the book signing.
Davidson College
Outstanding, our most outgoing and engaged keynote to date. Karen was the best!
North Words Writers Symposium
Karen was a DREAM to work with! We had an amazing week!
Chattanooga State Community College