Welcome to Writer
& Editor
Gini Holland's Books

Gini Holland
*Author of novels for adults
and both nonfiction
and fiction for children

*Editor, children's nonfiction 

About Gini Holland

Background

Gini Holland is the published author of over thirty children’s nonfiction books, including the 2013 books Holiday Crafts  and Paper Crafts (Trash to Treasure), American Shorthairs and Ragdolls (Cats Are Cool), New York: Rosen Publishing. She's also been an editor and writer of many other nonfiction and fiction children’s books at Gareth Stevens, Inc., Milwaukee. Many of her books from Gareth Stevens, Inc., World Almanac Library, Weekly Reader, and other children’s book publishers are available on Amazon.com.
She's also a veteran teacher of
Special Education for
Milwaukee Public Schools.

See Published Books and
More Nonfiction Titles tabs 

for sample cover images.

Novels

 Set in the culturally chaotic Sixties, Gini Holland's  novels explore the
issues of race, cultural change,
protest, and war.
Her first novel, Behind the White Gate, details the struggles of Tory, an American college junior, and her fellow white South African students in Cape Town's anti-apartheid underground—and the crises of the African maids who served them. It is currently under publisher's consideration.
Her second novel in this planned trilogy, The Year She Wasn't There, explores the lives of friends Tory left behind in the States as they protest the war in Vietnam and grapple with University of Wisconsin classes, the U.S.government, 

and each other. This trilogy's issues of race, war, and protest mirror many of today's concerns and prompt readers to think about the implications 

of personal choice.

Style

 In her fiction, Holland pulls readers into scenes with action, sensory cues, and interior thoughts that weave through her characters' out-loud dialogue. Cultural diversity creates tension and reveals multiple points
of view throughout her work. 

For her nonfiction children’s books, her experience as a special education teacher taught her to research, organize, and explain her findings with clarity. It also trained her to be mindful of the 

ages, abilities, and interests
of her readers. 

In biographies and histories,
as with her fiction, 

she embeds narrative 

with “you are there” scenes that bring subjects alive and make their struggles immediate. 

Her  craft books not only show kids how to make things, but promote use of recycled materials and suggest fun ways to  enjoy what they create. 


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Behind the White Gate

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Inspiration for novels

Coming of age in the late Sixties, Gini Holland  majored in English at the University of Wisconsin, reveled in creative writing courses,  transferred to the University of Cape Town for her junior year, and joined the anti-apartheid student movement, which certainly gave her something to write about. When she returned to the States, she continued her University of Wisconsin studies at the height of the anti-war movement. The peace movement and the emergence of counter-culture values challenged her white middle-class upbringing and now inspire many of her characters' ideals and struggles.   

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South African struggles

Holland's first novel, Behind the White Gate, explores the difficult choices forced on all who lived in South Africa's police state. The maids in this story, based on true events, must navigate strict racial segregation while serving a white upper middle-class family that covertly supports Nelson Mandela's underground African National Congress. Despite their liberal views, the white family must enforce apartheid laws on their maids to prevent South African police raids that would expose their underground activities. Go to   https://uctalumniconnect.com for her essay, "Spirit of '68 Memories,"  and many  photos documenting South Africa's first white student protest against apartheid. 

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Behind the White Gate

At the base of these brick stairs below Muizenberg Mountain, a white gate stands between the Jewish family that harbors apartheid fugitives and the secret police who watch their every move. The gate also stands guard between the family maids' safe but servile domain and the segregated country beyond, where, as nonwhites, they have no right to travel without a signed pass and no right to vote, own property, or shop in white-only stores. They may serve and live behind the white gate, but they may not keep their children or husbands with them. Their alternative is to live in black township huts (see above) or in "Bantustans," with limited prospects of employment.