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 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 often discussed. This made it hard for her to begin a career in publishing 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 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." At her local library, Jenkins read many books, including Alice in Wonderland, Dune, Zane Grey, and works by early romance writers such as Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, and Phyllis A. Whitney. Her writing started when she became the editor of her school's newspaper. Jenkins attended Michigan State University in the spring of 1969.
Career
Jenkins worked full-time in the circulation department of the Michigan State University library. 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 reference desk of Parke Davis Pharmaceuticals and began writing romance novels as a hobby. After a colleague suggested she find an agent and publisher, Jenkins 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 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 parts torn out—the parts that belong to minority history. Jenkins uses her books to put the quilt back together by showing parts of 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 such as a schoolteacher, a cavalry officer, a female doctor, and Underground Railroad heroes. These characters were inspired by real history.
Jenkins found inspiration for Forbidden from two pieces of history. First, she read a news article about a fancy hotel run by African Americans that was 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 on her head. Jenkins includes bibliographies with her historical romances so readers can learn more, if they want to.
Awards
- 1996 – Romantic Times Historical Love and Laughter 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 Novel Winner
- 2011 – Something Old, Something New – Romantic Times Multicultural Romance Winner
- 2013 – Destiny's Embrace – Romantic Times American-Set Historical Romance 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