After finishing her school leaving examination in 1950 she began a five-year job training at the newspaper BZ am Abend.
Other popular children's books in the GDR written by Gisela Karau include Darf ich Wilhelm zu Dir sagen?
(1979) about Wilhelm Pieck's life and Loni (1982) about a girl in Berlin a few years after World War II.
The film Mein blauer Vogel fliegt was based on Der gute Stern des Janusz K.. She also published books for adults, like the novels Berliner Liebe (1984) and Familienkrach (1988) in the GDR.
After the German reunification she wrote some novels about the destiny of people in the GDR, in the Wende and in the New states of Germany after 1990.