Karlene Harvey (she/they) is an illustrator and writer, who lives on the unceded and ancestral home territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tseil-Waututh people. Karlene is Tsilhqot’in and Syilx and grew up on territories of the Semiahmoo and Kwantlen Nations. They have illustrated several children’s book, including Drum From The Heart, Every Child Matters, Maggie Lou, Firefox and Kaiah’s Garden.
Karlene studied at Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, earning a BFA in Visual Arts. She earned a Master of Arts in English Literature from the University of British Columbia in 2022. Professionally, Karlene has developed a career that centers on community building and developing leadership capacity amongst women and youth. They work at UBC as an Academic Advisor in the Faculty of Arts. Karlene is happy to share they are currently working on several children’s books that will have release dates in 2025-2026, please view the “Books” page for updates.
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For the remainder of 2025, I will be taking time away from illustration work. If you have a project that will begin in 2026, please feel free to reach out:
karlene.harvey(at)gmail.com