Cecelia Holland facts for kids

Cecelia Holland (born December 31, 1943) is an American writer. She is famous for her exciting historical fiction novels. These stories are set in the past.

Becoming a Writer

Cecelia Holland was born on December 31, 1943, in Henderson, Nevada. She grew up in Metuchen, New Jersey. When she was 12 years old, she started writing stories. She wrote them just for fun.

She loved history from a young age. She felt that history had endless stories to tell. This passion for history has stayed with her throughout her career.

Cecelia went to Connecticut College. There, she studied creative writing. Her teachers, like poet William Meredith, encouraged her. One of her teachers, David Jackson, even showed her novel to a publisher.

Her first published novel was The Firedrake in 1966. She had actually written four novels by then. The Firedrake was the first one to be printed. Since then, Cecelia Holland has been a full-time writer.

Her Unique Writing Style

Cecelia Holland is known for writing many different kinds of historical stories. She can make almost any time period feel real. This makes her work special.

She researches a lot to make her stories accurate. She includes the tough details of life in the past. Her stories often follow a main male character.

Her books have lots of action, especially battle scenes. But she also focuses on how people thought and lived in different cultures. She explores the politics of kings, tribes, and feudal societies.

In her novels about the Middle Ages, characters like Huns and Mongols speak in everyday English. This helps readers feel like they are really listening to people from that time.

Most of her novels grow slowly in her mind. She often writes articles and essays that lead to new book ideas. Sometimes, her editor asks her to write a specific book, like The Belt of Gold.

Cecelia also wrote a science fiction novel called Floating Worlds (1976). It is an epic story set far in the future. It explores different political systems across the Solar System.

Life Outside of Writing

In the late 1990s, Cecelia Holland was described as a "bohemian den mother." She had already written 24 books by then. As of 2011, she lives in Fortuna, California. This is a small town in rural Humboldt County, California.

Cecelia has three daughters and five grandchildren. For ten years, she taught creative writing classes. She taught them to people in Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City, California. She was also a visiting professor at Connecticut College in 1979. In 1981–1982, she received a special award called a Guggenheim Fellowship.