Hi, I’m Holly.
I write contemporary YA books about badass girls. I grew up in north Texas and now I live in Austin because most years it’s comfortable to swim outdoors May-October. Maybe even November. My pronouns are she/her. When I’m not writing, swimming, or adulting, I love to read, travel, hike, and, of course, canoe.
Writing has been a lifelong dream. When I was five, I told anyone who would listen that I was going to write a book about a girl named Mary who had to go through a maze. I cut up pieces of paper and stapled them together to be my book. I just didn’t know how to do the writing part yet. For years I kept notebooks full of stories I’d start, but never finish, because it turns out there’s more to writing than just being able to put words on paper. In 2018 I graduated from Vermont College of Fine Arts with an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and my novel IN THE SAME BOAT will be published by Scholastic July 20, 2021.
Fun facts:
I have walked the Great Wall of China, fat-biked on a frozen swamp in Alaska, and flown in a hot air balloon that crash landed in Australia.
My favorite TV shows are The Great British Baking Show and The Good Place.
My favorite movies are Pride and Prejudice (clearly the Keira Knightly version), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Jumanji (clearly the version with The Rock), The Princess Bride, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Edge of Tomorrow: Live Die Repeat, and Moana.
And most important—my favorite books are JELLICOE ROAD by Melina Marchetta, THE DISREPUTABLE HISTORY OF FRANKIE-LANDAU BANKS by E. Lockhart, JUST ONE DAY by Gayle Forman, FANGIRL by Rainbow Rowell, MY LADY JANE by Cynthia Hand , Brodi Ashton , Jodi Meadows, IN OTHER LANDS by Sarah Rees Brennan, MOXIE by Jennifer Mathieu, THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE by Patrick Ness, and THE MUSEUM OF HEARTBREAK by Meg Leder.