Season 9, Episode 15 - Karen Essex
In this episode of History Through Fiction: The Podcast, host Colin Mustful interviews author Karen Essex about her two-volume novel on Kleopatra. Essex reveals the real Kleopatra—an intelligent, multilingual ruler—contrasting her with the seductive figure from pop culture. She discusses her extensive research, including graduate studies and travel, and shares insights into the challenges of both traditional and independent publishing. Essex also talks about her broader storytelling career in film and television, her bestselling novel Leonardo’s Swans, and her upcoming book Run, Darling, about the Gabor Sisters’ dramatic escape from Nazi-occupied Hungary.
About the Author
Karen Essex was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and developed a passion for history and the arts early in life. As a teenager, she became involved with the theatre, focusing her collegiate studies at Tulane University on costume design and theatrical history. She later attended an interdisciplinary graduate program at Vanderbilt University and earned her MFA in Writing from Goddard College in Vermont in 1999. A devout history enthusiast since childhood, Essex is a national and international bestselling author of historical fiction and an active screenwriter who has worked with some of Hollywood’s leading figures.
Spy. Diplomat. Scholar. Adventurer. Princess.
This is the untold story of Princess Kleopatra's coming of age before she met the men who would make her name live on in history.
The cherished daughter of the powerful Greek pharaoh, King Ptolemy XII, she fought the treachery of her siblings, endured exile and betrayal, and defended the throne from hostile forces on every side.
