Karen Paul Holmes

Karen Paul Holmes won the 2023 Lascaux Poetry Prize and received a Special Mention in The Pushcart Prize Anthology. She has two books: No Such Thing as Distance (Terrapin) and Untying the Knot (Kelsay/Aldrich). Poetry credits include The Writer's Almanac, The Slowdown, Verse Daily, Diode, Prairie Schooner, Pedestal, and Plume. She has served as the Tweetspeak Poetry “Poet Laura”, was named a Best Emerging Poet by Stay Thirsty Magazine and received an Elizabeth George Foundation poetry grant.

Formerly the VP of Communications at a global financial services company, Karen is now a freelance business writer, poet, and frequent workshop leader. She founded and hosts the Side Door Poets and, for many years, ran a monthly writers' night out with an open mic.