Karen Olsson (born December 1972) is an American novelist and nonfiction writer.

Her first novel, Waterloo (FSG 2005), is set in a thinly veiled version of Austin, Texas.

The book follows a down-on-his-motivation reporter at an alternative weekly paper as he tries to get over a failed relationship and investigate some irregular goings-on at the state capitol.

Writing in The New York Times Book Review, Mark Costello described Waterloo as "a melancholy comedy of Texas politics [written] with great wit and assurance."

Set in Washington, D.C., it is narrated by the middle daughter of a family that has come undone in the wake of the Iran-contra scandal.