Holly Smale has been writing stories since she was four years old: constructing her own books from cereal boxes and a lot of sticky-tape, then forcing family readers to give her glowing reviews by standing in front of the television. Her path to publication included teen-modelling, factory-work, PR, teaching in Japan and a chaotic stint as the world’s worst waitress, along with a BA in English Literature and an MA in Shakespeare from Bristol University. She uses neither of these qualifications on a daily basis, but still brings them up at parties.
Her debut children’s novel, GEEK GIRL, became the No.1 Young Adult title in the UK and won the Waterstones YA Book Prize, selling 3.4 million books in 30 languages. It is currently in development with Netflix.
At the age of 39, Holly was diagnosed as both autistic and dyspraxic. She writes and speaks passionately about neurodiversity and a lot of random topics she’s not really qualified to talk about yet does anyway. Her debut adult novel, THE CASSANDRA COMPLEX (UK)/ CASSANDRA IN REVERSE (US) is out now, and is a Reese’s Book Club Pick, a BBC Radio 2 Book Club pick and the Aardvark Book Club pick. She lives in Hove, England.
