Karen Thompson Walker is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Age of Miracles (2012), which was named one of the best books of the year by People, O: The Oprah Magazine, and Publishers Weekly. This powerful debut follows a young girl and her family, who awake one morning to discover that the rotation of the Earth has suddenly begun to slow, stretching the length of the 24-hour day and throwing the natural world into disarray. It’s a big, speculative book, but at heart, it’s a simple human drama, told through the eyes of an observant adolescent girl. The Age of Miracles has been translated into 27 languages, was a finalist for the Barnes & Noble Discover Award, and has been optioned for a television series by AMC.
Her latest novel, The Dreamers (Jan 2019), is another mesmerizing story of a town transformed by a mysterious sickness that locks victims in perpetual sleep and triggers extraordinary, life-altering dreams. Gorgeously written, The Dreamers explore the possibilities contained within a human life – in our waking days, and perhaps even more, in our dreams.
A former book editor at Simon & Schuster, Karen is currently a faculty member of the University of Oregon MFA program, and lives with her family in Portland.
Karen Thompson Walker’s visit to West Kentucky Community and Technical College in March 2018 was a wonderful event. Karen had a wonderful presentation, where she not only discussed The Age of Miracles and how she came up with the idea for this book and the process she went through while writing it, but she also addressed writing in general, her experience with her career, and her upcoming book, which really excited the audience. Our One Book Read has a large following in our community, though the program is also largely geared to our students here, of course. Our students read the book year round, particularly the English 101 classes. This year was our 10th anniversary of the One Book read, and our students were extremely responsive to the book. Karen’s writing style immediately drew you in, and our students liked the characters and the relationships between Julia and her parents, Julia and Seth, and Julia and her friends. The concept of the slowing of the Earth which changes time and groups society into “clock timers” and “real-timers” was really unique and fascinated many of our readers. Karen Thompson Walker was a delight to have on campus. She was personable, “real,” and enjoyable to listen to. She was willing to stay and answer as many questions as the audience had after her presentation, and signed books and took photos with our guests afterwards. Our area book club members, students, faculty, and staff could not say enough about how much they enjoyed her. Karen was also very willing to participate in advertising for her event the day before and the day of – including doing a radio spot and interview, as well as a news broadcast. We are so glad that she was our featured author on our 10th anniversary, and could not have picked a better one for this year! — West Kentucky Community And Technical College