Karen Connelly is a Canadian writer, poet, educator, and psychotherapist. Born in Calgary in 1969, she has written poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction, building a body of work that moves between intimate personal narrative and political or cross-cultural settings. Her papers are held by York University’s Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections.
Connelly’s early poetry collection The Small Words In My Body received the Pat Lowther Award. Her nonfiction book Touch The Dragon, drawn from her experience in Thailand, won the Governor General’s Literary Award for English-language nonfiction. She later published The Lizard Cage, a novel set in a Burmese prison; it received the Orange Broadband Award for New Writers. Her official bibliography also includes poetry collections such as The Border Surrounds Us and the novel The Change Room.
The catalog title Burmese Lessons is a memoir concerning Connelly’s time in Burma and along the Thai–Burmese border, where personal relationships unfold amid political repression and resistance. It was a finalist for the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction and shortlisted for the 2010 Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction. Connelly’s official site describes her as the author of twelve books and notes her continuing work in writing mentorship, retreats, and private therapeutic practice in Toronto.
This profile is awaiting source review; collected books are already linked below.
