A professional storyteller and singer-songwriter, Carol Mahler specializes in telling Florida folklore.
Combining education and entertainment, she has performed stories of and about Florida throughout the state at the 2003 Philadelphia Folk Festival, and at the Florida Folk Festival 2013-2017.
She is the author of three books. Her award-winning poems and articles have been published in magazines and newspapers; in addition, she writes and edits articles, books, and other publications for the DeSoto County Historical Society.
Mahler has served as humanities scholar, discussion leader, and project director for programs--focusing on Florida literature and Florida history as well as public policy--funded by the American Library Association, Arts and Humanities Council of Charlotte County, Florida Humanities Council, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, Modern Poetry Association, National Council on Aging, National Endowment for the Humanities, and others.
She also served as “state scholar” for a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibit which toured Florida in 2001, and for the Florida Humanities Council’s 30th Anniversary Chautauqua Tour in 2003.
She is the founding director of the Peace River Center for Writers, now at Florida Southwestern College in Punta Gorda.
She has taught writing workshops for preschoolers through nonagenarians in schools, churches, recreation centers, libraries, and other locations.
At South Florida Community College (SFCC), Edison State College, and the Charlotte Campus of Florida Gulf Coast University, she has taught English, literature, writing, and humanities classes
She also served as an instructor for SFCC’s Elderhostel and Lifetime Learners Institute programs.
Mahler holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature/Latin Poetry from New College of Florida and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College in North Carolina.