Beneath the Blue Umbrella
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a book of poetry now available for purchase
Finishing Line Press
Amazon
or
contact Karen by EMAIL to arrange direct purchase and delivery
"Karen Marker’s poems are beautiful, heart-touching lightning bolts. I found myself nodding my head as I read her relatable words/lines about grief, how it arrives like “a warning scream like fighter jets” and loss, “We hold her like an empty bowl,” and mental illness, “We shiver when we say it: like we’ve been bit"
- Susan Vespoli author of Therefore Illuminate
Hive Collective Interview now on Spotify
Episode Description
Cassandra, Hildegard of Bingen, Virginia Woolf, Ann Sexton...the link between visionary minds and what classifies as 'mental illness' is key to opening doors of perception. Join Karen Marker as she talks with Julia Chiapella about her new book, Under the Blue Umbrella, and a family history of schizophrenia as both stigma and chimera.
Karen is an award-winning writer who lives in Oakland, Ca.
Her body of creative work includes poetry, prayers, stories, plays, healing rituals, eulogies, memoir, essays, and poetic documentaries. In addition to her book Beneath the Blue Umbrella, her poetry has been published in numerous anthologies and journals.
Karen was honored that her essay Ruth in the Redwoods won first prize under the Religious Category in the 2021 Soul-Making Keats Literary Competition, and that she earned a first prize under the People Category of the 2024 Ina Coolbrith Poetry Dinner Contest for her poem Tony Unhoused. In the same contest she won 2nd prizes under the Love Category for A Response to Wild Geese and under the Nature Category for Our Mother in January. In 2023 the Ina Coolbrith Diner Contest also awarded her a 2nd prize under the Beginning/Ending Category for On Passover/Easter Sunday and a 3rd Place under place category for Ode to The Blue City.
As the offspring of two first generation parents (from Swedish and European Jewish roots) Karen has inherited a passion for social justice , a longing to travel to uncover ancestral stories, and a passion to forge deeper connections as she uses her writing as a force for healing.