Holly Farris is an Appalachian who has worked as an autopsy assistant, restaurant baker, and beekeeper. She is the fifth generation of her family to live on their farm in the mountains of southwest Virginia. She obtained a BA in biology from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Her education has fostered both her career in science and community activism. Her short fiction has appeared in journals as diverse as Appalachian Heritage, The Greensboro Review, Lodestar Quarterly, and Frontiers. Farris has been nominated twice for a Pushcart Prize.