Elissa R. Sloan (Visual Art ’03) is the author of 2020’s The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes, “a page-turning peek inside the glamour and brutality of life as a pop star.” Elissa didn’t always plan to be a writer — she studied dark-room photography at HSPVA! She began the project that became her first book in 2014, when she was still working as a professional wedding photographer. During the pandemic, Elissa returned to photography both to promote the book and to explore the book’s themes through her first creative medium. Check out the video below to learn about her album cover project, and visit @ElissaReads on Instragram to see more.
As we count down to Kinder HSPVA’s Encore50: Celebrating Fifty Years of Excellence, HSPVA Friends will share interviews, messages, and more from alumni who look back on their time at HSPVA as foundational to their current successes. We’re so excited to share the interview below with Elissa! And don’t miss her next book, forthcoming in 2023: The Unshackling of Hayley Aldridge!
ABOUT ELISSA R. SLOAN
Elissa R. Sloan grew up in Houston, Texas. Born to a Japanese immigrant mother and Jewish American father, Elissa understands the importance of representation in stories and media, and cites Claudia Kishi as one of her young heroines. Elissa attended The University of Texas at Austin, concentrating on WWII history and English. When she’s not writing, Elissa is also an artist and professional photographer, spending the last decade shooting weddings for a living. Though she’s not a gossip in real life, she loves to keep up with celebrity dirt; her debut novel, The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes, was borne from that interest. She currently lives in Austin with her husband and two cats in a house with a rolling library ladder.
