Karen Simpson Nikakis

Nikakis was raised in the central Victorian town of Mansfield, surrounded by the mountains of the Victorian Alps.^{[citation needed]} Her interest in fantasy occurred at age 19, when she read Tolkien's fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings. She has since written a number of published academic essays on myth and fantasy writing.

She has worked as a secondary teacher, a technical and further education teacher, and as a lecturer in business communications at Deakin University.^[2][3] She completed a Master in Education in young adult literature with her thesis being on The Purpose of Dragons in Selected Children’s Literature in the Twentieth Century at Charles Sturt University^[4] and went on to complete a PhD in 1997 in fantasy fiction from Victoria University with her thesis on The Use of Narrative in Order to Break the Masculine Domination of the Hero Quest.^[5][6]

During the 1980s, she started writing picture story books, which she also illustrated. Her first fantasy novel was published by Allen & Unwin in 2007 as The Whisper of Leaves, the first book in a fantasy series: the Kira Chronicles. A second book The Song of the Silvercades was released in July 2008.^[1][7]

In 2008, she was appointed the foundation head of the bachelor's degree in Writing and Publishing for Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE.^[1][8]

In 2020, she was a runner up for Australian Shadows Awards poetry award.^[9] The same year her book I Heard the Wolf Call My Name was nominated for a Aurealis Awards for Young Adult Novel and her short story Glass-Heart was nominated for the Young Adult Short Story award.^[10]