Beverly Jenkins was born in 1951 in Detroit. She is an American author who writes historical and contemporary romance novels. Her books especially 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 chosen as one of the Top 50 Favorite African American writers of the 20th century by the African American Literature Book Club. Jenkins’s historical romance stories take place during a time in African American history that she thinks is often not noticed. This made it hard for her to get published because publishers did not know 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 administrative aide. Jenkins grew up surrounded by words. Her mother read to Jenkins while she was in the womb and bought 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 widely at her local library, including books such as Alice in Wonderland, Dune, Zane Grey, and works by early romance writers like Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, and Phyllis A. Whitney. Her early writing began 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 Michigan State University library’s checkout department. Each 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 Parke Davis Pharmaceuticals’ reference desk and began writing romance novels for fun. A colleague suggested she find an agent and publisher, so she 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 romance categories, 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 pieces that belong to minority history. She uses her books to help readers see parts of Black history that are often not 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 such as a schoolteacher, a cavalry officer, a female doctor, and Underground Railroad heroes. These characters were inspired by real history.
Jenkins got ideas for Forbidden from two historical events. First, she read 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 in her historical romances so readers can learn more, if they choose.
Awards
- 1996 – Romantic Times Historical Romance Nominee
- 1999 – Romantic Times Western Historical Romance Winner
- 2000 – Romantic Times Multicultural Romance Winner
- 2007 – Romantic Times Historical Storyteller of the Year Nominee
- 2010 – A Second Helping – Romantic Times Multicultural Fiction Winner
- 2011 – Something Old, Something New – Romantic Times Multicultural Romance Winner
- 2013 – Destiny's Embrace – Romantic Times Historical Romance Set in America Winner
- 2013 – A Wish and a Prayer – NAACP Image Award for Literature Nominee
- 2016 – Forbidden – Romantic Times Historical Romance Winner
- 2017 – RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award