Karen Swallow Prior, PhD, is Research Professor of English and Christianity and Culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. She is the author of Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me (T.S. Poetry Press, 2012), Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More—Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist (Thomas Nelson, 2014), and On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life Through Great Books (Brazos 2018).
She is coeditor of Cultural Engagement: A Crash Course in Contemporary Issues (Zondervan, 2019) and has contributed to numerous other books. Her writing has appeared at Christianity Today, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, First Things, Vox, Relevant, Think Christian, The Gospel Coalition, Religion News Service, Books and Culture, and other places. She is a founding member of The Pelican Project, a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum, a senior fellow at the International Alliance for Christian Education, a senior fellow at the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture, and is a former member of the Faith Advisory Council of the Humane Society of the United States. She and her husband live on a one-hundred-year-old homestead in central Virginia with sundry horses, dogs, and chickens. And lots of books.