| Cary Holladay | |
| Birth Place: | Richmond, Virginia |
| Occupation: | Author, teacher |
| Nationality: | American |
| Education: | College of William and Mary (BA), Pennsylvania State University (MA) |
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| Subjects: | --> |
| Notablework: | --> |
| Spouse: | John Bensko |
| Partners: | --> |
| Years Active: | 1989–present |
Cary Holladay is an American writer and professor, best known for her historical short fiction. In 1999, her story "Merry-Go-Sorry" about the West Memphis Three murder case was selected by Stephen King for an O. Henry Award.
Originally from Virginia, Holladay graduated from the College of William and Mary with a B.A. and then went on to earn an M.A. from Pennsylvania State University.
She is the author of a novel, Mercury; a novella, A Fight in the Doctor's Office; and six collections of short fiction. She taught in the MFA program at the University of Memphis, with her husband, the poet John Bensko, and retired from there in 2020. In addition to awards for writing and teaching, Holladay has received fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She currently serves as a core faculty member of the low-residency MFA program at Converse University.
Over 100 of Holladay's stories and essays have appeared in literary journals and anthologies, including The Kenyon Review, New Stories From The South, and The Oxford American among others.