Karen Tucker

Karen Tucker is a Teaching Professor in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She holds a PhD in English & Creative Writing from Florida State University (2020) and an MFA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College (2010). Her work focuses on creative writing pedagogy, social justice themes in literature, and southern literary traditions. Tucker is the author of the critically acclaimed novel Bewilderness (Catapult, 2021), which explores the opioid crisis through the lens of female friendship. Her short fiction has appeared in prominent literary journals such as The Yale Review, The Missouri Review, and Tin House.

• Recipient of the Elizabeth George Foundation Grant (2010), George M. Harper Award (2017), and Jerome Stern Spotlight Award (2018)
• Former Fiction Editor of The Southeast Review (2017–2020)

Her teaching portfolio includes courses on fiction writing, creative nonfiction, and political narrative forms. Tucker’s work bridges literary artistry with social consciousness, often addressing marginalized experiences through innovative narrative techniques.