Karen Southern was born in Powell River in 1943 and has lived there most of her life. With Peggy Bird she wrote an extensive local history, Pulp, Paper and People: 75 Years of Powell River. The Nelson Island history covers 100 years of settlement and events of the area between Sechelt and Powell River from about the 1860s to the 1980s. The Nelson Island granite quarry, begun in the late 1800s, was the catalyst for settlement. It provided the granite for the Parliament Buildings in Victoria. Southern also wrote an outdoor recreation guide to Powell River and the Sunshine Coast with Bryan Carson, Sunshine and Salt Air, revised in 1991. A second printing of her 1986 history, The Nelson Island Story: Including Hardy Island and Other Islands of Jervis Inlet is available through the Powell River Museum. (Of related interest is Boats, Bucksaws and Blisters, a collection of pioneer tales by Powell River's G.W. Thompson, also available via the museum's heritage association.)

Author of:

The Nelson Island Story: Including Hardy Island and Other Islands of Jervis Inlet (Hancock House, 1986)
Sunshine and Salt Air: An Outdoor Guide to the Sunshine Coast (Harbour, 1987)
Pulp, Paper and People: a 75-Year Illustrated History of Powell River. Co-authored with Peggy Bird (Powell River Heritage Association, 1988)
Powell River's Railway Era (Victoria: BC Railway Historical Association, 2000). With Ken Bradley

[BCBW 2003] "Local History" "Outdoors"