Karen Dustman is a California-based journalist and author. From history to home improvement, natural health to self-help, she’s written about it during her twenty-year career. “The best part of being a writer is I get to write about whatever I’m interested in, and I’m interested in practically everything!” she laughs.
Early in her writing career, a pair of successful home improvement books landed Karen on top television shows including Discovery Channel; the Weekend Edition of the Today Show; Good Day New York; Woman’s Day TV; HGTV; and the Howie Mandel show. Her freelance magazine articles have also appeared in a wide range of national publications including Ladies’ Home Journal, Family Circle, Natural Health, and Westways.
In recent years, Karen’s passion for history led her to launch Clairitage Press, a small independent press devoted to books on California/Nevada history and preserving oral histories. Its line kicked off with Silver Mountain City: Ghost of the Sierra, the history of a Comstock-era ghost town. And yes, there really was a “Claire” in Clairitage — read about it here. Clairitage now features nearly a dozen volumes — and the list is still growing! (Click here to check out their titles!)
Karen loves speaking about history topics, and has enjoyed teaching multiple classes about writing memoirs and collecting oral history. Although she’s usually nose-deep in creating her next new book, she still enjoys occasional freelance assignments for magazines.
Keep up with Karen’s adventurous rambles to historic sites in the Sierra and undiscovered history tales through her free bi-weekly history newsletter. Find past issues (and sign up for free!) at the Clairitage blog.