Holly Williams Doering

Holly Williams Doering grew up in a USFS family in the mountains of McCall, Idaho. She wandered through the world in her youth: Studying literature at University of Idaho, teaching English in Tokyo, Japan;  bicycling through India, Thailand, and Malaysia;  then teaching inmates to read at the Rappahannock Regional Jail in Virginia. Afterward, she was accepted into 2 different writing programs. Although EWU didn’t offer a teaching assistantship like the other programs at the time, she chose EWU due to Spokane’s vibrant writing scene: (1) the large number of generous writers in the community like Jess Walter, Sherman Alexie, Linda Lawrence Hunt, Claire Rudolph Murphy, Sherry Jones, and so many more (2) Auntie’s Bookstore, which brings in big-name authors like Chuck Palahniuk and David Sedaris, and features exciting new writers like Asa Maria Bradley (an EWU grad with a Scandinavian paranormal series) and (3) EWU’s Get Lit! program which brings writers to the city like Alexander McCall Smith and Walter Mosley. Spokane is a wonderful place to live and that “sense of place” is very important to Holly’s writing.

Fun fact: After her graduation from the MFA program, Holly learned her EWU application was almost rejected because it was on stonewashed pink paper. Her publication list is eclectic, as follows: Holly is a second-place winner of the Pacific Northwest Inlander’s annual Flash Fiction contest and a one-time judge of the event, although not in the same year. She wrote for Spokane & Coeur d’Alene Living magazine for almost a decade, in addition to serving as its Book Review Editor, and had one article in its sister publication, the Inland Business Catalyst. She also reviewed books for almost a decade for Foreword Reviews, a bookstore industry publication. Naturally, Holly works at Auntie’s, since she can’t manage to stay away from books. She didn’t try very hard.

In 2003, Holly published her short story “Blue” in ZYZZYVA, after which she was contacted by Richard Russo’s agent about any longer fiction she might have ready. Holly’s other projects include a blog in which she is reading one book from every country in the world, because she is tired of the cannon of old dead white guys. Visit her blog at 365bookworm.wordpress.com. On a personal note, Holly and her husband, a former manager at Auntie’s, are the companion humans to two rescued dogs, cats, and rats.