Skip to content Skip to footer

>> Karen Codner

Karen Codner

Santiago, Chile

Manuscript Seminar in Spanish

Reading has been my passion since childhood. Although I graduated with a degree in journalism from the Universidad Católica de Chile and also hold an MA in Comparative Literature, my love of words eventually led me to explore creative writing. I published my first novel, Respirar bajo el agua (Breathing Underwater) in 2016 and hope to publish my second later this year or in 2020.

As a second generation Chilean, I am also co-founder of the Memoria Viva Foundation (www.mviva.org), a non-profit organization whose mission is to recover the testimonies of the Holocaust refugees and survivors who made Chile their home.

The literary world is where I best express myself and my thoughts become lucid. I regularly write about Jewish memories and Jewish identity. In addition to teaching a creative writing workshop for youth, I publish a weekly blog about contemporary literature and in depth analysis of how to live a creative live. My recurrent topics are the relationship between memory and identity, family relations and silence as an essential human need.

My newest passion is running marathons. I find that conquering challenges, boosting my self-confidence and having butterflies in my stomach with the excitement—-as well as staying in shape—is highly addictive. My husband and I have four children.