Karen Salyer McElmurray won the AWP Award for Creative Nonfiction for her memoir, Surrendered Child: A Birth Mother’s Journey. Her novels are The Motel of the Stars, Editor’s Pick by Oxford American, and Strange Birds in the Tree of Heaven, winner of the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Writing. Her work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Kentucky Foundation for Women.

Website: www.karenmcelmurray.com

Twitter Username: @mcelmurraykaren

Publications

• The Motel of the Stars , Sarabande Books (January 1, 2008)

Employment

• West Viriginia Wesleyan at Low Residency MFA (June 2011 - January 2012)

Degrees

• Doctoral Degree in Creative Writing, Fiction from University of Georgia (June 2012)

Genres of Interest

Fiction, Creative nonfiction, Poetry