Karen Nesbitt is a YA author, and a Guidance Counsellor with a BA. in Psychology from the University of Saskatchewan and an MEd. in Counselling from McGill. She teaches creative nonfiction, short fiction and memoir at the Thomas More Institute in Montreal, and memoir for teens on the west island. Her YA novel Subject to Change, an Orca Book Publishers’ Bold book, won the QWF Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature, and was nominated to the Ontario Library Association’s White Pine List, in 2017. Karen can discuss the genre of YA literature, and has designed a presentation on Dark Topics in YA which is particularly suited to CEGEP audiences. As a counsellor she works embedded in the sometimes dark realities of young adult life. As a teen, she struggled with epilepsy herself. As an author, she combines her passions and expertise in talking about, and writing, authentic YA literature.