Karen Celestan is the author of "Freedom’s Dance: Social, Aid and Pleasure Clubs in New Orleans" with cultural photographer Eric Waters (LSU Press, 2018) and "unfinished blues: Memories of a New Orleans Music Man" with Harold Battiste, Jr., the former musical director for Sonny & Cher and Dr. John (Historic New Orleans Collection, 2010). The Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) presented the 2011 Outstanding Contribution to Publishing Citation to "unfinished blues" for excellence in publishing. Her short story about the aftermath of Katrina – "Higher Ground" – received Carve Magazine’s 2013 Esoteric Award for its Natural Disaster edition. Celestan retired in 2021 from her position as executive writer-editor in University Advancement at Texas Southern University in Houston.
Celestan managed the Music Rising at Tulane program, a post-Katrina cultural support initiative (with The Edge of U2 and Trombone Shorty). For 10 years, she was the publications and media coordinator for Festival Productions, Inc. of New Orleans (which produces the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and produced The Essence Music Festival) and was a copy editor for The Times-Picayune.
She is currently producing two book projects, including "So, So Pretty: African-Indian Queens of New Orleans" with Maroon Queen Cherice Harrison-Nelson. Celestan graduated from the University of New Orleans with a B.A. in communications and Queens University of Charlotte with an M.F.A. in creative writing.
