Caroline Van Hemert (she/her/hers) is an Alaska-based writer and wildlife biologist with a passion for birds and northern landscapes. Her creative work explores the intersections between wildlife, climate science, and adventure travel, with essays and articles featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Outside, Vogue, High Country News, and Audubon. Her debut memoir, THE SUN IS A COMPASS, was winner of the Banff Mountain Book Adventure Travel Award, short-listed for the William Saroyan International Prize, and cited by Amazon, Outside, Forbes, and Bustle as a “must-read.” In 2025, she sailed the Northwest Passage with her family, providing material for her current book project, UPWELLINGS, which features tales of resilience, hope, and surprise endings in the natural world. In addition to her creative work, she studies wildlife health in the Arctic and regularly publishes on topics including avian ecology, wildlife disease, and climate change. She is delighted to be returning to a residency at PLAYA!