author of Horse People: Stories and The Deer in the Mirror: Stories and a Novella
Saturday, Oct 26, 9 a.m. - Noon Poindexter Hall
Cary Holladay returns the symposium with readings from her two newest collections of stories, Horse People and The Deer in the Mirror, winner of the Ohio State University Prize in Short Fiction. Holladay, a perennial favorite at the symposium, has appeared twice before, in 2008 with her novel A Fight in the Doctor’s Office and in 2002 with her novel Mercury. Laced with pathos and humor, Holladay’s stories chronicle the history of the horse country of Virginia, and range from the Old Dominion State in the wake of the Revolutionary War to Alaska during the Gold Rush. Lee Smith has dubbed Holladay an “historical fiction writer extraordinaire,” arguing that “Holladay writes with a majestic mastery of language, history, and character, telling tales both tough and true, brilliant and always surprising, like a diamond held up and turned in a shaft of sunlight.”
