Professor
Director of the River City Writers Series
Phone: (901) 678-4405  
Email: holladay@memphis.edu
Website: caryholladay.net
Office: Patterson 409

Education

M.A., The Pennsylvania State University
A.B., The College of William and Mary

Academic Summary

Professor Holladay is the author of seven volumes of fiction, two of which are coming out in 2013. Her work explores the history, culture, and folklore of her native Virginia and the wider South. From 2009-12, she was designated a First Tennessee Professor in recognition of “outstanding contributions to the University’s teaching, research, outreach and service missions.” She received the 2011 UM Alumni Association Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Creative Arts and has been nominated for a Distinguished Teaching Award.

 In addition to the books, her body of work includes 60 stories in journals and 7 stories in anthologies, including four appearances in the series New Stories from the South: The Year’s Best. She has won 11 national fiction competitions, including two for book manuscripts—the Miami University of Ohio Novella Prize for A Fight in the Doctor’s Office; and Ohio State U’s Prize in Short Fiction for The Deer in the Mirror. She won an O. Henry Prize for “Merry-Go-Sorry,” which was based on the West Memphis Three murder case. She has received fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the NEA.

Major Publications

• The Deer in the Mirror, Ohio State UP, 2013
• Horse People: Stories, Louisiana State UP, 2013
• A Fight in the Doctor’s Office, Miami UP, 2008
• The Quick-Change Artist: Stories, Swallow Press / Ohio UP, 2006
• Mercury, a novel, Shaye Areheart Books / Random House, 2002
• The Palace of Wasted Footsteps, U of Missouri Press, 1998
• The People Down South, U of Illinois Press, 1989

Additional Selected Publications

• “Ghost Walk,” Philadelphia Noir. Ed. Carlin Romano. New York: NY: Akashic Press, 2010: 249-265.
• “Horse People,” New Stories From the South: The Year’s Best, 2009. Ed. Madison Smartt Bell. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill: 296-312. First published in Ecotone. Vol. 4, No. 1 & 2.
• “The Horses Are Loose.” Who Will Save Us Now? Brand-New Superheroes and Their Amazing (Short) Stories. Ed. John McNally & Owen King. Free Press/Simon & Schuster, 2008: :47-61.
• “Hollyhocks,” New Stories From the South: The Year’s Best, 2007. Ed. Edward P. Jones. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2007: 150-165. First published in Five Points,  Vol. 10, No. 2.
• “The Burning.” New Stories From the South: The Year’s Best, 2006. Ed. Allan Gurganus. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2006: 17 - 36. First published in Fugue, Vol. 28.
• “Jane’s Hat.” New Stories From the South: The Year’s Best, 2005. Ed. Shannon Ravenel. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2005: 115 - 127. First published in Five Points, Vol. VIII, No. 3.
• “Seven Sons,” The Hudson Review LXIV:3 (Autumn 2011): 409-437.
• “The Best Party Ever,” The Oxford American No. 73 (Summer 2011): 50-56.
• “The Flood,” Glimmer Train 78 (Spring 2011): 172-197. Winner, “Family Matters” contest.
• “Horseman, Pass By!” The Sewanee Review CXIX:1 (Winter 2011): 1-17.
• “A Gold Rush Story,” Great River Review, Issue 54 (Spring/Summer 2011): 81-91.
• “Two Worlds,” The Southern Review 46:3 (Summer 2010): 458-471.