About Holly Menino

I grew up in a small college town in Ohio. My father was a surgeon who, early in his career as a doctor, delivered all my friends into the world. My mother could make just about anything, from friends to money. They both read late into the night—he had no use for fiction, and she never bothered with his narratives of science and politics. If I didn’t learn their thoughts on the books in front of them it was because I couldn’t stay up that late.

I went to Smith College, where I received many kindnesses from faculty members but particularly from Bill Van Voris and his wife Jacqueline. He continued to support and comment on my writing long after he retired.

After college I married, raised two children, and held a series of what Virginia Woolf called “printer’s devil’s” jobs—proofreading, copyediting, acquiring books, and writing radio scripts. I have worked in scholarly publishing, in radio syndication, and in public relations. I live in central New York, and my favorite job is the one I have now, writing.