About

A writer, a reader, a mother of five.

Direct, warm, unpretentious — with the occasional bit of humour about the noise it takes to write something quiet.

Portrait of Christina Carlsen smiling softly outdoors in golden light.

I started writing to clear my head, not because I had a plan.

I write for the kids who feel everything a little too much — the ones who replay conversations on the walk home, who notice faces in a crowded room, who carry things quietly. I was one of those kids. I’m raising five of them now.

Our house is loud, full, and occasionally overwhelming, which means it’s also very good material. Writing is how I process. I’m a granddaughter, a daughter, a wife, a mother, and a reader, in roughly that order on a good day.

I love being outside. I do not love being told what kind of author I should be. The books I make are the ones I needed when I was a kid: honest, a little messy, unwilling to tie things up too neatly.

If you have ever sat with a feeling you could not name, this shelf is for you.

Outside the books.

  • I write best late at night, after everyone in the house has had .
  • Five kids. The oldest listens to everything I write before my editor does.
  • Coffee, then more coffee. A small ritual that never fails me.
  • I keep a notebook in every coat pocket. They are mostly lists and ideas for new stories.
  • My favourite compliment from a reader: “It felt like you knew me.”
Christina Carlsen writing at a wooden desk by a sunlit window.

“Books were the place where I learned that the way I felt was not a mistake.”

— On the books that made me