
Russell's second book and first novel, Swamplandia!, about a family of alligator wrestlers and their shabby amusement park in the Everglades was long-listed for the 2011 Orange Prize. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, for which Russell won the Bard Fiction Prize in 2011. She was named a National Book Foundation "5 Under 35" young writer honoree at the November 2009 ceremony for her first short story collection, St. Russell's stories have been featured in The Best American Short Stories, Conjunctions, Granta, The New Yorker, Oxford American, and Zoetrope. Her brother, Kent Russell, is also a writer.

A Miami native, as of 2019 she resides in Portland, Oregon, with her husband, editor Tony Perez, and two children. She graduated from the MFA program at Columbia University in 2006. She was also the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant" in 2013.Īfter graduating from Coral Gables Senior High School in Miami, Florida in 1999, Russell received a BA in Spanish from Northwestern University in 2003. In 2009 the National Book Foundation named Russell a 5 under 35 honoree.

Her debut novel, Swamplandia!, was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Karen Russell (born July 10, 1981) is an American novelist and short story writer. Karen Russell at the 2011 Texas Book Festival
