Holly Lorincz is the new owner of Manzanita's Cloud & Leaf Bookstore, though she is perhaps best known locally as an author. Lorincz will be discussing how having the skills to edit and write helped her survive a sudden-onset, life-altering chronic illness, providing a path to build a new career while parenting a young child, and eventually offering opportunities she wouldn't have had as a teacher (i.e. interviewing a Taliban escapee, having a mafia member send her gifts, or walking the red carpet at the Emmys). Her first novel Smart Mouth, a national award winner, was loosely inspired by her time as an educator at NKN; she has since ghostwritten or collaborated on fourteen published books, including the best-selling Crown Heights and her latest release, the award-winning Invisible Machine: The Startling Truth about Trauma and the Scientific Breakthrough That Can Transform Your Life.