Holly Payne

Holly Lynn Payne is an American author and screenwriter. She has written four novels: The Virgin's Knot, The Sound of Blue, The Kingdom of Simplicity, and Damascena.

Early life and education

Payne was born and grew up near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and attended the University of Richmond and then earned an MFA from the University of Southern California. She lives near San Francisco with her daughter.

Career Payne has served on the faculty of the Academy of Art University, California College of the Arts and Stanford University. She also served on the board of Litquake, a San Francisco-area literary organization and festival. a novel about a crippled and unmarried Turkish woman who weaves rugs in a small village. Although not all reviews were positive, The Virgin's Knot won the Contra Costa Times Book Club Pick. It was also a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection 2002, and a Border's Original Voices Book 2002.

Payne's next novel, The Sound of Blue, was published in 2004. Several years later, in response to an earlier injury during an encounter with a drunk driver while mountain biking, she wrote The Kingdom of Simplicity

Payne's fourth book, Damascene: A Tale of Roses and Rumi, is a work of historical fiction about the life of a thirteenth-century Persian poet, and an orphan girl. It also draws on the story of the Damask rose, a cultivar renowned for its fine fragrance.

Payne founded Booxby in late 2014, with the stated mission "to perpetuate a love of reading—by helping people find the right book at the right time."

Books

The Virgin's Knot, 2003. The Kingdom of Simplicity, 2010 Damascena A Tale of Roses and Rumi, 2014