Karen Olsson is an American novelist and journalist. Her first novel, Waterloo (FSG 2005), is set in a thinly veiled version of Austin, Texas. The book follows a down-on-his-motivation reporter at an alternative weekly paper as he tries to get over a failed relationship and investigate some irregular goings-on at the state capitol. Writing in the New York Times Book Review, Mark Costello described Waterloo as "a melancholy comedy of Texas politics [written] with great wit and assurance."
A former editor of The Texas Observer, Olsson is a senior editor at Texas Monthly and has written for Slate.com and The New York Times Magazine. She lives in Austin and is currently at work on her second novel.