Karen Crawford
writer · flash fiction · poetry
A writer with Puerto Rican roots, raised in East Harlem, now living in the City of Angels — where she exorcises demons one word at a time.
publications
Girl in the City
“Girl in the City" chronicles the experiences of a keenly observant, sensitive female protagonist who we follow from childhood through early adulthood.
Gifted in the art of poignant detail, Karen Crawford conjures both the ecstasy and pain of stepping out of one's comfort zone and into a fractured world. In each one of these beautiful stories we're reminded that being part of a family involves contradictory emotions toward those we are closest to, and how family members accidentally scar one another.
Each story in this hopeful collection reminds us of the excitement and rage of growing up.
–Meg Pokrass, author of First Law of Holes: New and Selected
selected stories
about karen
Karen Crawford’s flash fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous journals, as well as Best Microfiction 2025, National Flash Fiction Day Anthology 2024 and Wigleaf Top 50 longlists: 2023, 2025, and 2026.
Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart prize, Best of the Net and Best Small Fictions. Her debut chapbook, Girl in the City, is a collection of coming-of-age vignettes that trace a young girl’s journey through the turbulent landscape of 1970’s New York.