about
Karen writes about architecture, urbanism, art, and design for publications including Metropolis, ReadyMade, I.D., Time Out New York, The New York Times, and the London Guardian. She also edits the online edition of Swink, a literary magazine. She has taught writing at Pratt Institute and the New School University and has performed her written work at venues such as The Moth urban storytelling series. Her first book, Crystal Cove Cottages: Islands in Time on the California Coast, is a Los Angeles Times bestseller.
Karen grew up in Southern California and received a B.A. in English and fine art from Pitzer College. She spent her twenties in Portland, Oregon, where she founded Tonic, an alternative newspaper, then went on to write and edit for Willamette Week, Portland’s Pulitzer-winning newsweekly. In 1999, she moved to New York and spent five years as a senior editor at Metropolis, covering urban planning, green architecture, landscape design, historic preservation, and public art.
She lives in the Bay Area with her husband, urban planner Devan Reiff, and a Volkswagen that runs on biodiesel.
Karen writes about architecture, urbanism, art, and design for publications including Metropolis, ReadyMade, I.D., Time Out New York, The New York Times, and the London Guardian. She also edits the online edition of Swink, a literary magazine. She has taught writing at Pratt Institute and the New School University and has performed her written work at venues such as The Moth urban storytelling series. Her first book, Crystal Cove Cottages: Islands in Time on the California Coast, is a Los Angeles Times bestseller.
Karen grew up in Southern California and received a B.A. in English and fine art from Pitzer College. She spent her twenties in Portland, Oregon, where she founded Tonic, an alternative newspaper, then went on to write and edit for Willamette Week, Portland’s Pulitzer-winning newsweekly. In 1999, she moved to New York and spent five years as a senior editor at Metropolis, covering urban planning, green architecture, landscape design, historic preservation, and public art.
She lives in the Bay Area with her husband, urban planner Devan Reiff, and a Volkswagen that runs on biodiesel.