Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg is a visionary. She bases her writing within communities for community empowerment. I cannot tell how strongly I feel that we are lucky to have her here for her significant and sustained contributions to the word arts.
~ Denise Low, 2007-09 Kansas Poet Laureate
Photo by Kevin Rabas
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg is the 2009-13 Kansas Poet Laureate, a writer, teacher, and facilitator, and coach and consultant who explores how the spoken, written and sung word can help us live more vibrant lives.
Founder of Transformative Language Arts, Caryn is the author or editor of over 20 books of poetry, fiction, memoir, non-fiction, and anthologies. A registered songwriter with BMI, her poetry and prose has been published widely.
As a beloved workshop facilitator, she adores collaborating with individuals and communities on writing, facilitation, and Right Livelihood. Her vibrants retreats include Brave Voice with Kelley Hunt, Your Right Livelihood with Kathryn Lorenzen, and Writing from the Soul with Joy Roulier Sawyer.
Caryn was born in Brooklyn, and grew up there and in Manalapan, N.J. until she headed west to study journalism at the University of Missouri, where she got a labor history degree instead. She continued west to Lawrence, Kansas, where she fell in love with the land, community, and her husband, bioregional writer Ken Lassman.
Caryn received her Ph.D. from the University of Kansas and has trained in organizational development, grassroots organizing, poetry therapy, and teaching yoga. She taught for 33 years on the college level, at Goddard College, Haskell Indian Nations University, and the University of Kansas. She is the recipient of Kansas Arts Fellowship in Poetry, the Rocky Mountain National Park artist-in-residency, and other honors.
The Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg Collection
The archive of Caryn’s work, writing, and life is housed in Special Collections of Pittsburg State University’s Leonard A. Axe Library. Access the digital version of the collection.
Selected Venues & Communities
Organizations & Businesses: Google Tech Team, Institute of Culture in Mexico, Sky Island Alliance, Community Mercantile Food Co-op, Delaware Street Commons Cohousing, Douglas County Housing Authority, Kansas Historical Museum, plus hundreds of libraries, bookstores, and community, writing, and art centers, across the country.
Colleges: Institute of Policy and Social Research at the University of Kansas, State University of New York at Potsdam, Truman State University, Pittsburg State University, Brookdale Community College, and Lebanon Community College.
Medical Centers: Walter Reed Military Medical Center, Menninger’s Foundation, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Stormont-Vail Medical Center, University of Kansas Medical Center.
Conferences: The Power of Words, International Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, National Storytelling Network, Associated Writing Programs, Continental Bioregional Congress, National Association for Poetry Therapy, Writing & the Art of Medicine, and National Association of Drama Therapy.
Check out "How I Got This Way" for an inside-out view of how I fell in love with poetry and kept following its path.
Photo by Stephen Locke
I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing and working with Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg for the past decade, and have rarely encountered a more insightful, compassionate, or integrous teacher and coach. Like the poet David Whyte, Caryn brings decades of experience as a writer to her work with organizations and individuals seeking outside-the-box wisdom, and creative solutions to problems in the workplace. An expert in guiding clients toward their “right livelihood,” she combines practical advice with artistic principles that focus on innovation, well-being, and creative freedom.
~ Mark Matousek, writer and founder of The Seekers Forum
Caryn in the News
Caryn has been featured in Poets & Writers, Boston Herald, Psychology Today, Kansas City Star, Washington Post, Paris Herald, Syracuse Herald-Journal, Scholastic, Seventeen, and strangely enough, Cosmo Girl.
Selected Interviews, Features & Reviews
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Five Ways Writing Can Make You Braver and Happier by Harriet Lerner in Psychology Today
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Author interview with Cheryl Unruh on A Rumor of Coyotes
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Kevin Willmott and Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg on Kansas Public Radio Presents
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Here’s What Happens When a Poet and Photographer Chase Kansas Weather on New Letters on the Air
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Voice of Beauty: Interview with Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg in Psychology Today
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From Poetry to History on KCUR radio
Recent Poems Published
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"Things Angels Might Do" in Minyan Magazine (nominated for Best of the Net)
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Three Poems in Wilderness House Literary Review
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“What the Sky is Made Of” and “You Rise Up to Meet the Falling World” in Terrain Magazine
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"True Love" and "We Live in Light" in Half and One Magazine