Karen Mobley was born in Wyoming to a game warden and a freelance writer. She was raised on an elk refuge and spent much of her young life bumping around on dirt roads. She started making art and writing poems in the kitchen. She has participated in five artist-in-residency programs including the prestigious Jentel Foundation. She has published three books, Prairie, Wind, Winter; Trial by Ordeal; and Catatopia. She resides in Spokane, Washington, where she works as an artist, writer, and art consultant.