"Take one girl child, let her be born to schoolteacher parents; endow her with great curiosity and imagination and a love of words; provide her with freedom to read and express her- self; give her enough hard knocks to make her tough; let every major job she ever has provide her with challenging associations and unbelievable opportunities for developing her own latent abilities; and finally let her marry Henry Giles and through him be introduced to her perfect writ- ing environment. Mix and stir well.” - Janice Jolt Giles: A Writer’s Life by Diane Watkins Stuart

About Janice

Janice Meredith Holt 

Born March 28, 1905

Born: March 28, 1905 Janice Meredith Holt in Altus, Arkansas to Lucy Elizabeth (née McGraw) and John Albert Holt. Her parents were teachers. Janice was l one of four children. Mary Katherine Holt Sullivan (July 9, 1907 - January 8, 1995) and John Albert Holt Jr. (born 1909) were her younger sister and brother.

 

In 1943 she met her husband, Henry Giles, on a bus ride. Henry Giles was a soldier in WWII and was a native of Adair County, Kentucky. They corresponded through letters until Giles was released from the Military and then they were wed.

 

Janice attended both the University of Arkansas and Transylvania University.

 

Janice Holt Giles was inducted into the Kentucky Writer's Hall of Fame in 2014