Beverly Jenkins was born in 1951 in Detroit, Michigan. She is an American author who writes historical and modern romance books. Her stories often focus on the lives of African Americans during the 19th century. In 2013, she was nominated for a NAACP Image Award. In 1999, she was named 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 always discussed enough. This made it challenging for her to get her books published because some publishers were unsure how to handle stories about African Americans that did not focus on 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. Her parents were a high school teacher and an administrative aide. Jenkins grew up surrounded by books and stories. Her mother read to her while she was still in her mother's womb and bought 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 works by 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. She went to Michigan State University in the spring of 1969.
Career
Jenkins worked full-time at the Michigan State University library's circulation department. Every lunch hour, 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 Parke Davis Pharmaceuticals reference desk and began writing romance novels for fun. After a colleague suggested she find an agent and publisher, Jenkins sent her manuscript to Vivian Stephens, who agreed to represent 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 that belong to minority history. Jenkins uses her books to help readers see these missing pieces by sharing stories about Black history that are rarely taught in school. Slavery and the Civil Rights Movement are important parts of African American history, but they are not the only parts. For example, her first three novels, Night Song, Vivid, and Indigo, include characters like a schoolteacher, a cavalry officer, a female doctor, and Underground Railroad heroes. These characters were inspired by real historical events.
Jenkins found inspiration for Forbidden from two pieces of history. First, she read a news article about a high-end African American-run hotel discovered during an archaeological dig in Virginia City. 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 with her historical romances so readers can explore more information if they choose.
Awards
- 1996 – Nominated for the Romantic Times Historical Love and Laughter Award
- 1999 – Won the Romantic Times Western Historical Romance Award
- 2000 – Won the Romantic Times Multicultural Romance Award
- 2007 – Nominated for the Romantic Times Historical Storyteller of the Year Award
- 2010 – "A Second Helping" won the Romantic Times Multicultural Fiction Novel Award
- 2011 – "Something Old, Something New" won the Romantic Times Multicultural Romance Award
- 2013 – "Destiny's Embrace" won the Romantic Times American-Set Historical Romance Award
- 2013 – "A Wish and a Prayer" was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Literature
- 2016 – "Forbidden" won the Romantic Times Historical Romance Award
- 2017 – Received the RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award