Carolyn Meyer was born on June 8, 1935, in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1957 with a bachelor's degree in English from Bucknell University. Following an earlier desire to write, she sold her first story to a secretarial magazine, and then wrote a series of craft books for children, ranging from sewing and needlework to candy making and cooking. In 1978 she published her first novel for young people, C. C. Poindexter.

In 1960 she married Joseph Smrcka.

Now divorced, she has three sons, Alan, John, and Christopher.