Discover the Captivating World of Books and Literature by Richard Holinger

Richard Holinger – Author, Poet, and Essayist

Richard Holinger’s award-winning fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in The Southern Review, Chautauqua, Witness, The Iowa Review, and many other prestigious literary journals. A four-time Pushcart Prize nominee, his short fiction has been selected for Best Microfiction 2025 and nominated for Best Small Fictions 2025 and Best of the Net 2024. His essay in Thread earned a “Notable” mention in Best American Essays 2018.

His books include the forthcoming short story collection Unimaginable Things and Other Stories (Main Street Rag Publications) and the poetry chapbook Down from the Sycamores, praised as “a variegated bouquet of lyric thought” by poet Christina Pugh. His previous works include North of Crivitz (poetry), Not Everybody’s Nice (flash prose), and Hybrid Seeds: Little Fictions.

A Ph.D. graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Holinger has taught creative writing for over 40 years and led multiple writers’ groups in Illinois. He currently writes columns for Kane County Chronicle and lives in rural northern Illinois, where he finds inspiration in the surrounding wildlife.