Karen Zelas is the author of five books of poetry:

Threads

ISBN: 978-0-473-65686-7
pp130
Author: Karen Zelas
Publisher: Pūkeko Publications, 2020 

‘Threads is a book about family … love, beauty and hope … So that the healing can begin …’ 

– Joanna Preston

‘… a tangle of three poem sequences [the third “Geography of Loss. I have] no doubt as to the work’s significance. The language sparkles [and] the story is vivid and heart-breaking.’ 

– Bernadette Hall

The Trials of Minnie Dean: A verse biography

ISBN: 978-0-9941299-4
pp196
Author: Karen Zelas 
Publisher: Submarine, Mākaro Press, 2017. Reprinted 2020

‘Genre busting …’ 

– James Norcliffe

‘… part narrative, part scrapbook, part poetry … Zelas’s book is like a performance …’ 

– Paula Green (Wild Honey: Reading New Zealand Women’s Poetry, Massey University, 2019.)

I am Minerva

ISBN: 978-0-9941299-7-0
pp89
Author: Karen Zelas 
Published by Submarine Poetry, Mākaro Press, 2016

Cover image from Séraphine Pick: Girl (with offered eyes)

‘… begins with a light-hearted selfie and ends with the writer’s realisation that – the goddess Minerva – she is a custodian of words and creativity and even wisdom.’

– Joanna Preston

‘Zelas is a poet on the move …’ 

– Paula Green

Night’s Glass Table  

ISBN: 97819218699914 (pbk.)
pp87
Author: Karen Zelas
Publisher: Interactive Press, Queensland, Australia, 2012 IP Picks Best First Book

‘The poems in Night’s Glass Table are tight and emotionally powerful, and deal with themes such as death, grief and love … (Zelas) chooses her words with care and her poems are eloquent and evocative.’

– David Reiter

feathers unfettered – 25 New Zealand Birds 

ISBN: 978-0-473-28797-9
pp63
Author: Karen Zelas 
29 Illustrations of native birds, gifted by Jan FitzGerald 
Published: Pūkeko Publications, 2014

Illustrated with characteristics of 25 birds of Aotearoa New Zealand, both scientific and humorous … with concern expressed for the need for conservation.