Beverly Jenkins was born in 1951 in Detroit. She is an American author who writes historical and contemporary romance novels. Her books often focus on the lives of African Americans in the 19th century. In 2013, she was considered for the 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. Her historical romance books are set during a time in African American history that she thinks is not given enough attention. This made it hard for her to start publishing her books because some publishers were unsure how to handle stories about African Americans that did not involve slavery. She studied Journalism and English Literature at Michigan State University. She 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 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, works by Zane Grey, and 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 attended Michigan State University in the spring of 1969.
Career
Jenkins worked full-time in the Michigan State University library's checkout 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 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 sub-genres, 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. Jenkins uses her books to show these missing pieces by sharing parts of Black history that are rarely taught in school. Slavery and the Civil Rights Movement are important parts of African American history, but there are many other parts as well. 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 history.
Jenkins got ideas for her book Forbidden from two interesting stories. 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 with her historical romances so readers can learn more if they want to.
Awards
- 1996 – Nominee for Romantic Times Historical Romance 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 Storytelling 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 Historical Romance Award Set in the United States
- 2013 – A Wish and a Prayer – Nominee for the NAACP Image Award in Literature
- 2016 – Forbidden – Winner of the Romantic Times Historical Romance Award
- 2017 – Recipient of the RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award