Jan Karon Biography

Jan Karon penned her first novel when she was 10 years old the same year she won a short-story contest organized by the local high school. At 18 Karon began working as a receptionist for a Charlotte N.C. advertising agency. She advanced in the company after leaving samples of her writing on the desk of her boss who eventually noticed her talent. Karon went on to have a highly successful career in the field winning awards for ad agencies from Charlotte to San Francisco. In time she became a creative vice president at the high-profile McKinney & Silver. While there she won the prestigious Stephen Kelly Award with which the Magazine Publishers of America honor the year’s best print campaign. During her years in advertising Karon kept alive her childhood ambition to be an author. After struggling—and failing—to get a novel underway Karon awoke one night with a mental image of an Episcopal priest walking down a village street. She grew curious and started writing about a character she named Father Tim Kavanagh. Soon Karon was publishing weekly installments about Father Tim in her local newspaper The Blowing Rocket which saw its circulation double as a result. “The installment plan certainly worked for Mr. Dickens” says Karon.

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