Jan Karon (born March 14, 1937) is an American novelist who writes for both adults and young readers.
She has been designated a lay Canon for the Arts in the Episcopal Diocese of Quincy (Illinois) by Keith Ackerman, Episcopal Bishop of Quincy,[1] and in May 2000 she was awarded the Degree, Doctor of Humane Letters honoris causa by Nashotah House, a theological seminary in Nashotah, Wisconsin.
[2] Jan Karon was born in the Blue Ridge foothills town of Lenoir, North Carolina as Janice Meredith Wilson.
At age 12, Jan moved from Hudson to Charlotte, to rejoin her mother, who had married Toby Setzer and had two more children.
Karon and Michael Winslow, a Mckinney designer, collaborated on a tourism campaign, interviewing artisans, musicians and others for print ads aimed at showing that North Carolina had other attractions besides theme parks and big hotels.
One ad featured mountain musicians under the headline, "The Best Place to Hear Old English Music Is 3,000 Miles West of London."
In 1988, Karon quit her job, traded her Mercedes for a used Toyota and moved to Blowing Rock, North Carolina.
In 1994, Karon herself placed her work with a small religious publisher, which brought out a volume titled At Home in Mitford.
She sent Karon's book to a New York agent friend, who got it to Carolyn Carlson, an editor at Viking Penguin and daughter of a Lutheran minister.
Carlson faced opposition at Viking Penguin, a mainstream publisher unused to Christian fiction.
In 2000, Karon left Blowing Rock and moved to Albemarle County, Virginia, where she restored a historic 1816 home and 100 acre farm, Esmont Farm, built by Dr. Charles Cocke (who served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly before the American Civil War).