Eccentricity! Carlton the lawyer (found in her mystery Tuscaloosa Boneyard) folds one-hundred-dollar bills origami-style into bow ties so Ben Franklin’s eyes are peering at jurors. And Jane, (in short story collection kaleidoscope jane and other stories), fragments the world into prisms of images she views through her well-worn kaleidoscope.

Ezell writes short stories and novels for adults and is also a children’s author. She has been honored with the Arts & Humanities Druid City Literary Arts Award for her collection of work as a whole, and the Highlights for Children’s Arts Feature Award for “The Anything Art of Jimmie Lee Sudduth.” In the 1970s, she created and collaborated on a coloring book “Give Yourself a Hug” featuring seatbelt safety which was distributed to Alabama second-grade public school classrooms by the state’s Department of Transportation. Her books have been reviewed several times on Alabama Public Radio and read by folks as far away as Tasmania!

Tuscaloosa Moon and Tuscaloosa Boneyard have realized fun success. The third in this mystery series Tuscaloosa Trolley was derailed by Covid but is back on track toward publication. There is also a second collection of short stories in the works. And The Messy Room, a beautifully-illustrated picture book for children, is the first of several in planning. Other writing has appeared in journals and magazines such as The Birmingham Journal of Art, Alabama Alumni News All-Creative Issue, Creative Ideas for Living, and Highlights for Children magazine and their book A Rebus Treasury. Some of her children’s pieces have been reprinted in textbooks in the U.S. and Canada and have been used by national standardized academic testing companies.

If asked to describe her reasons for writing, she answers to delight, educate, and entertain by exploring myriad facets of what it means to be human. And always, by offering hope and the power of love manifested in many forms.

The Ezell household includes her author/artist/photographer-husband, Jim, their rescue dog and a very sassy African Gray parrot. They have been parents, grandparents, mentoring adults, and foster and international host parents. Her brother and she are the children of a globe-trotting mom and dad. Teen years were spent living in Tanzania, Lebanon and Pakistan, and visiting more than one hundred countries. The University of Alabama is her alma mater and was also her career employer. She’s thankful for more than twenty-five years as a clinical social worker and also enjoyed teaching child, adolescent and family therapy in the School of Social Work’s graduate program.

Look for her under the pen name Carolyn Breckinridge when writing for adults, and Carolyn W. Ezell when writing for children. It’s hard to imagine she joined the organization that has morphed into Tuscaloosa Writers and Illustrators Guild more than fifty years ago.