Carmel Mawle is a writer, artist, and photographer based in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. She serves as Managing Editor of Panhandle Creek Press and the children’s book imprint, Ardea Herodias Books.

In 2011, Carmel founded Writing for Peace, a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to creating a more peaceful world through creative writing. She served as Editor-in-Chief of DoveTales, An International Journal of the Arts from 2012-2022.

Twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, her poetry and prose has been published in literary journals and anthologies, including VOX Populi, Cutthroat, A Journal of the Arts, Smokelong Quarterly, KNOTS Literary Magazine, Literary Mama, Lucid Moose Lit, HerWords, and others. Carmel’s short story, “Heading South,” earned Honorable Mention in the 2022 Rick DeMarinis Short Story Prize. 

Carmel lives in the Colorado Rockies with her husband and Maxwell, a 10 lb. mountain dog. They are building a literary home a place where writers can draw inspiration from the natural world. Carmel leads a weekly writers group in Fort Collins, encouraging writers to share their work through readings and community events.

Carmel is currently working on a children’s picture book:

The Golden Rule: Collected Wisdom 

Publication Date: November 4, 2025

Hardcover Picture Book | 32 pages

8.5” x 8.5” Full Color

Amidst a mountain winter wonderland, “The Golden Rule” is explored through the lens of many world faiths and traditions.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is, within the Christian faith, considered The Golden Rule. This whimsical picture book explores this foundational principle through the lens of many faiths and traditions—a universal wisdom echoing the natural reciprocity of our relationship with the earth.

“Our life depends on the life of Mother Earth. If Mother Earth gets sick, so shall we. So, we must keep Mother Earth, including all her people, healthy – the creatures who crawl, the ones who swim, the ones who fly. The trees, the bushes, the waters, the air, and the rocks, all of these are part of Mother Earth. If we do anything to harm the balance that has been created for us – if we do anything that shows disrespect – then e are going to become sick, too.”

~Frances Sanderson, Ojibwa tribe

With illustrations celebrating the beauty of our natural world, The Golden Rule: Collected Wis­dom is rooted in the understanding that our co-existence depends on empathy and kindness—to Mother Earth and all her inhabitants—treating others as we would be treated ourselves.

The book is designed to inspire family conversation, love of the earth, empathy, respect, and appreciation for our fellow inhabitants.

Exploring Life Through Death: A Review of Double Negative

Published in Literary Mama

To say that Claudia Putnam’s Double Negative is about the death of her son dismisses that the bulk of the book’s focus is on life. She explores the nature of life in general while remembering her son’s life and the small space between its beginning and its end. But Putnam does not flinch from the reality of his death. “Jacob died of a broken heart. He died in agony. He drowned in fluid backed up in his lungs.” Putnam’s clear and muscular prose echoes the lyrical concision of her poetry.

Nobody Knows

Published in Hive Avenue Literary Journal

I wonder, sometimes, whether our spiritual beliefs come more from religious training,
or from trying to make sense of the experiences we have in life. My family wasn’t very
religious. We prayed at bedtime but didn’t attend church on a regular basis. We
celebrated Christmas and the Easter bunny, and I remember a couple of Midnight
Masses when we visited our grandparents – the candles, the carols, the incense and
stained glass…

The Calisia

Originally published in KNOT Literary Magazine

Republished in Vox Populi

Mama used to say music belonged in the light. She would rise early to help me wash, recite the Surahs, and pray, and then she would open the blue curtains, waiting for the sun’s rays to hit the piano before settling her fingers onto the keys…

Grip

Published in When Women Waken

Held at gunpoint

in your custom Econoline…

 

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Copyright © 2025 Carmel Mawle. All rights reserved.