Susan Elizabeth Phillips was born on December 11, 1944, in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is a romance novelist from the United States. She created the sports romance genre and is known as the "Queen of Romantic Comedy."
Biography
Phillips was born on December 11 in Cincinnati, Ohio, to John Aller Titus and Louesa Coate Titus. After earning a B.F.A. in theater arts from Ohio University, Phillips taught drama, speech, and English at a local high school until her first child was born. She then became a stay-at-home mother.
In 1976, the family moved from Ohio to New Jersey. There, Phillips and her neighbor, Claire Lefkowitz, often discussed the books they liked to read. Together, they wrote a historical romance titled The Copeland Bride, which was published in 1983 under the pen name Justine Cole. After Claire and her family moved away, Phillips began writing by herself. Her subsequent novels were published under her own name.
Phillips and her husband, Bill, met on a blind date while in college. They have two grown sons and live in Chicago, Illinois.
Honors
Phillips is the only person to have won the Romance Writers of America Favorite Book of the Year Award five times. In 2001, she was honored in the Romance Writers Hall of Fame. In 2006, she received the Romance Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award.
- Natural Born Charmer – Quill Award nominee for Best Romance in 2007
- It Had to Be You – Winner of the 1995 Rita Awards Best Novel
- Nobody's Baby But Mine – Winner of the 1998 Rita Awards Best Novel
- Dream a Little Dream – Winner of the 1999 Rita Awards Best Novel
- First Lady – Winner of the 2001 Rita Awards Best Novel
- Call Me Irresistible – Named one of the best romance books of 2011 by Library Journal; listed in Top 10 Romance Fiction by Booklist Online (2011); nominated for the RT Reviewers Choice Best Book Awards in Contemporary Romance (2011)