Karl Stewart
Fiction Non-Fiction Raised in the hills of post-WWII West Virginia, Karl Stewart moved to Wisconsin in his teen years, attending a Catholic seminary. Thereafter, he enlisted in the US Army, serving as a sergeant in the elite Green Beret Special Forces until 1969. Whereupon, he enrolled in the University of Wisconsin, earning a double-major degree in political science and history. In 2005 Stewart retired from teaching high school to concentrate on his writing.
His first novel, The Legend of See Bird: The Last Long Drive, was published in 2012. Its sequel, Devil's Backbone, received an Honorable Mention award at the 2015 Southern California Book Festival. Both books, Westerns, are loosely based on the life of Stewart's great-grandfather See Bird Carpenter, a Choctaw. His third novel, The Seventh Cruise, is the story of a young WWII sailor dealing with the growing burden of post-traumatic stress disorder and won an Honorable Mention at the 2017 London Book Festival. Up Harvey’s Creek, a boy’s memoir, follows The Seventh Cruise, and earned an Honorable Mention at the 2018 Great Southeast Book Festival.
Karl and his wife live in Wisconsin on a pine-lined ridge with a stunning view to the south, echoing his West Virginia childhood.