Holman was born in Hanover County, Virginia. Following graduation from The College of William & Mary in 1988 with a degree in theatre, she moved to New York. After transitioning from acting to various positions in the publishing industry, including several years as a temp at Penguin Books, Holman became the assistant to literary agent Molly Friedrich. It was during this time that she began writing her first novel, A Stolen Tongue, a mystery set along the route of a fifteenth-century religious pilgrimage. The debut novel was published by Grove/Atlantic in 1997 and subsequently translated into thirteen languages. This was followed by the bestselling The Dress Lodger, named a New York TimesNotable Book of the Year in 2000, and a nominee for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. After publishing a young adult title in 2002, Holman returned with The Mammoth Cheese in 2003, which was a finalist for the UKOrange Prize for Fiction. Her most recent novel is Witches on the Road Tonight, named a New York Times Editors' Choice and to the best fiction of 2011 lists of the Boston Globe and The Globe and Mail. She is at work on a new novel involving a pediatric health worker in Eldoret, Kenya. Holman is a writer and producer on 'Filthy Rich', premiering on Fox in spring 2020, as well as the upcoming Fox 21 Television Studios/National Geographic Channel series 'Barkskins', based on the Annie Proulx novel. She spent three seasons writing on Longmire for Warner Horizon Television, which premiered on Netflix in Fall, 2015. She served as a staff writer on Emerald City on NBC. The Crooked Road, her television adaptation of Witches on the Road Tonight, is in development by Universal Television. Holman teaches in the Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU Tisch She is a founding member of the storytelling collective The Moth and serves on its curatorial board. Her stories have been featured on The Moth Podcast and the Peabody Award-winning Moth Radio Hour. Holman lives with her family in Brooklyn, New York.
Awards
Orange Prize for Fiction, Best Novel shortlist : The Mammoth Cheese
Shirley Jackson Award, Best Novel : Witches on the Road Tonight