Karen Karbo is an American novelist, non-fiction writer and journalist. Karbo's three comic novels, Trespassers Welcome Here (1990), The Diamond Lane (1993), and Motherhood Made a Man Out of Me (2001), were each named New York Times Notable Books. She may be best known for her "Kick Ass Women" series (2007–13)—biographical self-help guidebooks on Katharine Hepburn Coco Chanel, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Julia Child. Her other non-fiction works are Generation Ex: Tales From The Second Wives Club (2001), The Stuff of Life: A Daughter's Memoir (2004), In Praise of Difficult Women (2018), and Yeah, No. Not Happening (2020). She has also written the three-book Minerva Clark children's mystery series (2005–7).