Iris Karas holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from Northeastern University, where she majored in psychology and community mental health counseling. She has been a high school guidance counselor since 2004.

Karas launched her writing career in 1998 during a leave from her brief studies at law school in Ohio. She began work on her first novel, Organizing Elizabeth, while working and raising a family in the Toledo area. As a resident of Western Massachusetts, she developed a professional working relationship in 2001 with her editor, novelist and poet Anna Kirwan.

At the completion of Organizing Elizabeth, Karas founded her own publishing enterprise, Hold That Thought Publishing, dedicated to being a resource for writers who are entering the publishing realm. She is currently living in Corpus Christie, Texas with her husband and working on her second novel, a sequel to Organizing Elizabeth.