K.A. Holt

Kari Anne Holt was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Throughout high school, she often found herself taking refuge in libraries. In 1998, Holt graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BA in Art History. She went on to teach at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. After the births of her three children, Holt began to take an interest in writing fiction. In 2014, Holt published a middle-grade novel in verse called Rhyme Schemer. The book was featured on several school and library reading lists, and its success paved the way for 2015’s House Arrest, an even bigger hit. In 2018 and 2019, Holt published four more books, including a sequel to House Arrest and a picture book entitled I Wonder. Most recently, she wrote This is Not A Drill (2022), a middle grade novel in verse about the stress of school lockdown drills and the difficulties of growing up. In 2019, in a piece for Publishers Weekly entitled “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t,” Holt wrote about her experience being turned away early during a school visit because administrators learned about her sexual orientation. She currently lives in Austin, Texas, with her wife and three children.