Karen Simpson Nikakis grew up in a small country town in NE Victoria, Australia where she rode horses through beautiful alpine scenery. This continues to influence her fiction, nonfiction and poetry works. She pursued a career in Education including Secondary Colleges, AMECs, TAFE and Universities (Australian and International) and was Assoc Prof and Foundation Head of Melbourne Polytechnic's innovative Bachelor of Writing and Publishing. She holds a B.Ed, M.Ed(Hons) in fantasy, and a Ph.D in Campbell's hero myth, as well as three Diplomas in the areas of Writing and Communications. She is the author of over 17 fiction, nonfiction and poetry works. Her fantasy novel I Heard the Wolf Call My Name and short story Glass-Heart were both short-listed in the Aurealis Awards 2019, and her poem Deadway was short-listed in the Australian Shadows Award 2020. Karen is a Communications Consultant and qualified Life Coach and works as a writer and publisher with SOV Media.