Carolyn writes poetry and gives workshops, retreats, and classes on writing and creativity. She also writes and consults on food and cooking. Her poetry has been published in national journals and awarded recognition by the Poetry Society of America and by the Jentel Foundation with an Artist’s Residency fellowship. She has published a dozen books on regional American food and gardening, including several award winners and best sellers.

Carolyn practices and teaches meditation in the Buddhist Theravada and Soto Zen traditions at meditation centers in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has done intensive retreat training at Vipassana (Insight) meditation centers in the United States and Burma.

Her undergraduate education was in Creative Writing and English Literature at California State University Northridge, Los Angeles. After school, she worked four years in Tuscany and Lombardy, Italy as a freelance graphic artist, which gave her an abiding love of Italian people, food, art, and language.

Carolyn makes her home and garden in Santa Cruz, California with her husband Dick Walvis and cat Calvino.