Beverly Jenkins was born in 1951 in Detroit, Michigan. She is an American writer who creates romance stories set in the past and present, with a special interest in the lives of African Americans during the 19th century. In 2013, she was nominated for a NAACP Image Award. In 1999, she was chosen as one of the Top 50 Favorite African American writers of the 20th century by the African American Literature Book Club. Jenkins writes about a time in African American history that she believes is not often talked about. This made it hard for her to get her books published because publishers had trouble knowing how to handle stories about African Americans that did not focus on slavery. She studied Journalism and English Literature at Michigan State University. She currently lives in Southeastern Michigan.
Early life
Jenkins was born in Detroit in 1951 to her parents, a high school teacher and an office helper. Jenkins grew up around words. Her mother read to her while she was in the womb and gave her cloth books when she was a baby. Jenkins would chew on the cloth books while her mother encouraged her to "Eat those words, baby. Eat those words." Jenkins read many books at her local library, including Alice in Wonderland, Dune, Zane Grey, and early romance writers such as Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, and Phyllis A. Whitney. She started writing when she became the editor of her elementary school newspaper. Jenkins attended Michigan State University in the spring of 1969.
Career
Jenkins worked full-time in the checkout area of the Michigan State University library. During each lunch break, she read articles from The Journal of Negro History (now called The Journal of African American History). Later, Jenkins and her husband moved to Ypsilanti, where she worked at the reference desk of Parke Davis Pharmaceuticals and began writing romance novels as a hobby. A coworker suggested she find an agent and publisher, so she sent her manuscript to Vivian Stephens, who agreed to help her. Avon published her first novel, Night Song, in 1994.
Although Jenkins has written books in many types of romance stories, most of her books are historical romances. Jenkins calls herself a "kitchen table historian." She compares American history to a quilt with some pieces missing—the parts about minority history. She uses her books to help repair the quilt by sharing stories about Black history that are often left out of school lessons. Slavery and the Civil Rights Movement are important parts of African American history, but there are many other stories too. For example, her first three novels, Night Song, Vivid, and Indigo, include characters like a schoolteacher, a cavalry officer, a female doctor, and heroes of the Underground Railroad. These characters were inspired by real people and events from history.
Jenkins found ideas for her book Forbidden from two historical events. First, she read about an archaeological discovery in Virginia City that uncovered a high-end hotel run by African Americans. She also heard a story about a man who saw a Black woman walking through the desert with a cook stove balanced on her head. Jenkins includes bibliographies in her historical romance books so readers can explore more about the history in her stories if they want to.
Awards
- 1996 – Nominee for the Romantic Times Historical Love and Laughter Award
- 1999 – Winner of the Romantic Times Western Historical Romance Award
- 2000 – Winner of the Romantic Times Multicultural Romance Award
- 2007 – Nominee for the Romantic Times Historical Storyteller of the Year Award
- 2010 – A Second Helping – Winner of the Romantic Times Multicultural Fiction Novel Award
- 2011 – Something Old, Something New – Winner of the Romantic Times Multicultural Romance Award
- 2013 – Destiny's Embrace – Winner of the Romantic Times American-Set Historical Romance Award
- 2013 – A Wish and a Prayer – Nominee for the NAACP Image Award for Literature
- 2016 – Forbidden – Winner of the Romantic Times Historical Romance Award
- 2017 – RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award