Carolyn Han
"I have been a student of many cultures. I have allowed my life to unfold, trusting that I will receive the lessons I need, but not always those that I want. My journey is not over . . ."
Carolyn Everett, later Han, started life in Los Angeles (born in 1941). Instead of attending college, she married young, moved to Malibu, raised her husband’s three children—then he asked for a divorce. Reclaiming her life, in 1978 she moved to Kauai, attended college, and later earned a master’s degree in English from San Diego. In 1984, she moved to China, where she taught English in Chongqing and Yunnan and married a Chinese man, taking his name. Then, she lectured within the University of Hawaii system where she published three collections of Chinese folk tales and several children’s books.
In 2000, divorced again and ready for adventure, she moved to Yemen. Over the next eight years, she studied Arabic and trekked by camel across the Ramlat as-Sab’atayn (desert) as a lone woman with Bedouin guides. Living in Marib, a tribal area (once home to the legendary Queen of Sheba), she instructed doctors and midwives in English. Also, she began her memoir. In Sana’a, she spent time writing and lecturing at the Lebanese University. Then she moved to Muscat, Oman, where she collected folk tales. In 2009, she moved to Cairo, where she wrote and taught at a Canadian college. Next, Kosovo and then Montenegro where she makes her home today.
