Hailing from Guangzhou, China, Karen Zhang is a bilingual writer, researcher and sustainability thought leader. She is the author of Golden Orchid: The True Story of An Only Child in Contemporary China. She writes about her Chinese perspective on American life for the now-defunct English/Chinese audio magazine Crazy English, and she expands this work on her website, Karen in America, and in online publications such as the Pittsburg-based journal, Coal Hill Review. Her essays and travelogues have appeared in various publications including the anthology, The District Lines, Secret Destinations, The Loyalhanna Review, Flyway, The Times-Picayune, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Virginia Tech Center for Leadership in Global Sustainability blog.
Karen earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Chatham University, the alma mater of Rachel Carson. She later obtained a Master of Natural Resources from Virginia Tech’s executive leadership program. She is the Chinese translation checker for biography Honorable Survivor by Lynne Joiner, and one of the collaborators with DC-based artist Judy Byron for her art installation, Continental Drift. She was a semi-finalist in the International Proverse Prize 2013. She was awarded an honorable mention in the 80th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition.
Karen lives in northern Virginia where she directs operations for a local remodeling company using systems leadership, while pursuing her passion for crafting place-based fiction that explores the unknown.