Karen Zelas spent many years as Consulting Editor of the NZ Family Law Journal and on the Editorial Board of the IPSCAN journal. She is a former psychiatrist and psychotherapist. For the last three years she has been Fiction Editor of Takahe literary magazine.

Her literary publications include poetry in Takahe, The Press, Presto, in anthologies: Southern Vintage (South Island Writers’ Assn 2006), land very fertile eds Coral Atkinson and David Gregory (Canterbury University Press 2008), Before the Sirocco (NZ Poetry Society 2008), ibox and ibox unplugged, read on PlainsFM: Women on Air and pending in bravado and Poetry NZ 39. Two of her poems were placed Highly Commended and Commended in the NZPS International Competition 2008.

Short stories have been in Takahe, Southern Ocean Review, bravado and Short Stories of the Waimakariri (Waimakariri Community Arts Council 2002), and broadcast on National Radio. Her play, A Colonial Vaudeville, had a public reading in Court 2 Theatre (now The Forge), Christchurch, in 2007 sponsored by the Operate Trust.

Karen Zelas’ first novel, Past Perfect, featuring the French settlement of Akaroa, is now available. Her website is www.karenzelas.com.