Karen Lumos

Karen Lumos was born at Nellis Air Force Base hospital in Las Vegas in 1971 to Betty and Kenneth Schierhoff. Shortly after her birth her father retired from 20 years of service, worked odd jobs, was a freelance mechanic and carpenter before landing a job at State Industrial Waterheaters. Karen grew up in a trailer park in the blue collar side of Henderson, with her parents and half brother and sister, Raymond and Vickie. Her parents ran an strictly traditional, roman catholic household, creating constanst tension between her sheltered life and the decadent real world of the Las Vegas valley. She moved to `the city' at 18 to be closer to her boyfriend and UNLV, received a BS in secondary education in 1993 and an MA in English literature, poetry emphasis, in 1999. She taught composition at UNLV for three years, but has recently given it up to commit more time to writing. Karen and Steve Lumos were married August 6th, 1999 at a open mike celebretion at the Enigma Garden Cafe in Las Vegas. She lives with her husband, mother-in-law, two dogs, and has finally found time to write about all the dysfunctional, haunting, yet loving and inspirational moments of her early life, which she blends with her take on pop culture, biting humor, and essay styles to create fascinating and one-of-a-kind narrative poetry.

At this particular moment in time Karen is most consciously aware of Barbara Kingsolver, Joanne De Long Champs, and Luci Tapahonso as her major writing influences. Of course, subconsciously Dave Barry, Douglas Adams, classic episodes of S-N-L, and The Cartoon Network overshadow even the most significant of conscious influences.