Holly Lynn Payne is an internationally published novelist in ten countries whose work has been translated into eight languages. Her new novel, DAMASCENA: the tale of roses and Rumi, unravels the mystery surrounding a gifted orphaned girl who meets the great Persian poet and mystic Rumi in the 13th century and discovers the secret of the rose. Dutton/Plume published her first two novels, The Sound of Blue and The Virgin's Knot, her debut novel, selected as a Discover Great New Writers and Border's Original Voices book. Her third book, Kingdom of Simplicity was nominated for a national book award in Belgium and was named to the mandatory reading list in Ghent. It has also published in the Netherlands, Taiwan and soon China, and is the winner of a Marin Arts Council Grant, first place winner of a Benjamin Franklin Award 2010 and won Grand Prize for the Writers Digest Self-Published Book Awards 2011. Payne studied journalism at the University of Richmond, where she received a Distinguished Alumni Award in 2010. She earned a MFA from University of Southern California and has taught throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, serving on the faculty at the Academy of Art University, California College of the Arts and Stanford. She lives in Northern California with her young daughter, and serves the literary community as a writing coach, publishing strategist and volunteer producer for Litquake--the West Coast's largest week-long literary festival held each October in San Francisco. When she's not writing or coaching other writers, she enjoys getting dirty on a mountain bike. You can read more about her coaching and retreats here: http://www.hollylynnpayne.com or follow her on Twitter @skywritertribe.