Karyn Langhorne was born at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland on August 24, 1964. She is the eldest of four children born to military parents. The family moved around a bit in her growing up years, and in addition to schools in the Washington-area, Karyn went to schools in Long Island, New York, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas and Columbus Georgia. She graduated from Spencer High School in Columbus, Georgia, then went on to Mercer University in Macon, Georgia where she was senior editor of college paper, The Cluster, before being accepted to Harvard Law School.

At Harvard, Karyn wasn’t so crazy about the study of law.

Although she hadn't much cared for law school, Karyn decided to give practicing a shot. She joined the Atlanta law firm of Morris, Manning and Martin – and wrote her first two unpublished novels on the side -- before deciding to try something else. She moved back to Washington, DC and tried lobbying with the American Council of Life Insurance (wrote a third novel at night), then tried teaching at DC School of Law (and wrote a fourth novel at night and screenplay) and then moved on to the Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, Florida (two more novels), then on to writing law for Brownstone Publishing in New York City (one off off Broadway play and nine screen plays).

When 9/11 caught her in Manhattan, close enough to see the Twin Towers fall with her own eyes, she decided it was time to give up law altogether and try to succeed at writing even though everything she'd written had been rejected by publishers up to that point. Karyn returned to her earlier unpublished novels with a critical eye. She decided to rewrite A PERSONAL MATTER from first page to last. It was accepted and published in 2004 by HarperCollins. That same year, In 2004, Karyn met her current husband, Kevin Folan, a kind and patient man who understands her lawyer- turned–artist temperament. Kevin is a first generation Irish American, and their experiences as an interracial couple led her to begin "Don't Bring Home A White Boy."

Karyn has written three other novels for HarperCollins, STREET LEVEL: AN URBAN FAIRY TALE and DIARY OF AN UGLY DUCKLING. Her fourth novel, UNFINISHED BUSINESS, was released in June 2007.

In 2008, Karyn began working with Townsend Press, writing Young Adult novels for their popular Bluford High School series.