Beverly Jenkins was born in 1951 in Detroit. She is an American writer who creates historical and modern romance books. Her stories often focus on the lives of African Americans in the 19th century. In 2013, she was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. In 1999, she was listed 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 discussed. This made it hard to get her books published because some publishers were unsure how to handle stories about African Americans that did not involve slavery. Jenkins 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 surrounded by books and stories. 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 different books at her local library, including Alice in Wonderland, Dune, Zane Grey, and works by early romance writers such as Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, and Phyllis A. Whitney. Her early writing began when she became the editor of her elementary school newspaper. Jenkins enrolled at Michigan State University in the spring of 1969.
Career
Jenkins worked full-time in the Michigan State University library's circulation department. Each lunch hour, she would read articles from The Journal of Negro History (now called The Journal of African American History). Eventually, Jenkins and her husband moved to Ypsilanti, where she worked at the Parke Davis Pharmaceuticals' reference desk and began writing romance novels for fun. At the suggestion of a colleague, Jenkins looked for an agent and publisher and sent her manuscript to Vivian Stephens, who agreed to represent her. Avon published her first novel, Night Song, in 1994.
Though Jenkins has published books in many romance sub-genres, the majority of her books are historical romances. Jenkins calls herself a "kitchen table historian." She likens American history to a quilt with some pieces ripped out—the pieces belonging to minority history. Jenkins uses her books to weave the quilt back together by revealing patches of black history that are rarely taught in school. Slavery and the Civil Rights Movement are important pieces of African American history, but they aren't the only pieces. For example, her first three novels, Night Song, Vivid, and Indigo, feature characters such as a schoolteacher, a cavalry officer, a female doctor, and Underground Railroad heroes. They were all inspired by true history.
Jenkins found inspiration for Forbidden from two interesting bits of history. First, she read a news article about a high-end African American-run hotel that was uncovered during an archaeological dig in Virginia City. She also heard a story about a man seeing a black woman walking through the desert with a cook stove balanced on her head. Jenkins includes bibliographies with her historical romances so readers can read further, if they choose.
Awards
- 1996 – Romantic Times Historical Love and Laughter Award Nominee
- 1999 – Romantic Times Western Historical Romance Award Winner
- 2000 – Romantic Times Multicultural Romance Award Winner
- 2007 – Romantic Times Historical Storyteller of the Year Award Nominee
- 2010 – A Second Helping – Romantic Times Multicultural Fiction Novel Award Winner
- 2011 – Something Old, Something New – Romantic Times Multicultural Romance Award Winner
- 2013 – Destiny's Embrace – Romantic Times American-Set Historical Romance Award Winner
- 2013 – A Wish and a Prayer – NAACP Image Award for Literature Nominee
- 2016 – Forbidden – Romantic Times Historical Romance Award Winner
- 2017 – RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award Winner