Meet Karen Rispin

Karen Rispin was born in Pennsylvania but grew up in Kenya, East Africa. The daughter of missionaries, Karen enjoyed the opportunities and adventures living in Africa provided. As a teen she climbed Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro, as well as camped on tropical beaches and in game parks. She volunteered at the busy and understaffed mission hospital, and went on medical trips into areas that hardly ever saw a doctor. During this time she developed a deep faith in Christ. Karen says that she would like to define herself as a servant of God and our Lord Jesus Christ. "That is the core of life for me."

After graduating from high school, Karen came back to North America and attended Penn State University where she earned a B.Sc. in Biology. It was there that she met and married Phil Rispin. The couple moved to Calgary where Karen worked at the Calgary Zoo and then to Saskatoon. During this time Karen and Phil had children and she wanted to be at home with them. Karen found that being at home with her daughters was a difficult adjustment. Her mom enrolled her in a correspondence course offered by the Institute of Children's Literature. Doors opened for free lance work with local and regional publications. She says she worked like mad at writing any time the kids were asleep.

From 1985 to 1990 she wrote regularly for the Star Phoenix, the Western Sportsman, Western Producer and Christian Week, and Ranger Rick, the children's magazine published by the National Wildlife Federation.

In 1990 the Rispins moved to Three Hills, Alberta. Phil began work for Prairie Bible Institute where he instructs both in the air and on the ground for their mission aviation program. Karen began writing the first two of her Anika Scott books, which are about a missionary kid growing up in Kenya. There are five books in that series now, and Karen has had two novels published by Multnomah's Palisades Romance line. Her latest novel, African Skies, features Laurel Binet and Darren Grant, both of whom are working in Africa. Laurel has chosen to work with the wildlife under a fanatical conservationist for her master's degree, whereas Darren opts to work with the natives to try and improve their way of life. Drought inevitably hits, and Laurel and Darren butt heads over which group is more important—–humans or animals.

Karen's family is centrally important to her. Daughter Jen studied Kinesiology at the University of Lethbridge, and her younger daughter, Jessica is in high school. As a family, they often hike, ride horses, and camp together. Karen has a great love for the outdoors. Her hobbies include rock climbing, canoeing, camping, hunting, gardening, reading, and painting watercolors of wildlife. She also trains saddle horses for local people and teaches riding lessons.

Updated June 2003