Carolyn Locke
The Riddle of Yes by Maine Writer Carolyn Locke

Carolyn Locke

Carolyn Locke is the author of four books: Always This Falling (2010), a collection of poetry; Not One Thing: Following Matsuo Basho's Narrow Road to the Interior (2013), a haibun that weaves prose, haiku, and photographs in a meditative exploration of her 2009 travels in Japan; The Place We Become (2015), a collection of poetry; and The Riddle of Yes (2019). Not One Thing and The Place We Become received honorable mentions in the New England Book Festival in 2013 and 2015 respectively. She has published poems in a variety of places such as Off the Coast, The Cafe Review, The Aurorean, Kyoto Journal, Clockhouse, Calyx, Connecticut River Review, Third Wednesday, and Earth's Daughters. Two of her poems were cited in writing contests sponsored by the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, and her poem “Regeneration” was selected for Take Heart: A Conversation in Poetry, edited by Wesley McNair, Maine’s fourth poet laureate. In addition, two poems have been selected for the Poems from Here Radio Series With Maine Poet Laureate Stuart Kestenbaum. She was also the Short Poetry Award Winner in the 2022 Maine Literary Awards for her poem "Thoughts on Migration." A graduate of Bates College and the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Goddard College, Carolyn taught high school English, creative writing, and humanities classes for many years. She was the recipient of several teacher travel grants including a three-week Fulbright Memorial Fund trip to Japan, a six-week Fulbright-Hays Seminar in Morocco, two three-week Primary Source trips to China, and a four-week Fulbright-Hays Special Projects trip to Japan. She lives with her husband in Troy, Maine.