Karen Jane Cannon is a UK poet and author. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Southampton. Her novel Powder Monkey (as Karen Sainsbury) was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in 2002 and Phoenix in 2003.
Karen has written two poetry pamphlets: The Curfew Bell (Indigo Dreams Publishing, 2021) and Emergency Mints (Paper Swans Press, 2018). She was the winner of The Poetry Society’s Hamish Canham Prize in 2022, shortlisted for The Bridport Prize in 2023 and 2019, commended for the Hippocrates prize for Poetry and Medicine, 2021, and a finalist in the Mslexia Poetry Competition, 2017.
https://www.indigodreams.co.uk/karen-jane-cannon/4595121238
Karen’s poetry has been published widely in literary journals and anthologies in the UK and USA, including Magma, Acumen, Envoi, Mslexia, Poetry News, Orbis, Obsessed with Pipework, The Interpreter’s House, Ink, Sweat & Tears, and Popshot.
Karen’s nonfiction work explores access to nature through visual impairment, and her writing was longlisted for the Nan Shepherd Prize in 2021. She is also an award-winning radio playwright. She has an MA with distinction in Creative Writing from Bath Spa University, where she lectured for three years. She lives in the New Forest.
Karen is creator of
https://englishchannelpoetryarchive.poetry.blog/
https://newforestpoetryproject.wordpress.com/
Praise for Powder Monkey:
The juxtaposition of pathos, comedy and sheep s** produces some geniunely funny lines.’ The Times
“A hilarious, brilliantly inventive book that shows how sad and weird ordinary life can be.’ Richard Francis, author of Red Hen
Karen Jane Cannon 
