Beverly Jenkins

Beverly Jenkins (born 1951, Detroit) is an American author of historical and contemporary romance novels with a particular focus on 19th-century African American life. She was a 2013 NAACP Image Award nominee and, in 1999, was voted one of the Top 50 Favorite African American writers of the 20th century by the African American Literature Book Club. Jenkins's historical romances are set during a period of African American history that she believes is often overlooked. This made it difficult to break into publishing, because publishers weren't sure what to do with stories that involved African Americans but not slavery.

Jenkins studied at Michigan State University as a Journalism and English Literature major. 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. She 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." She read widely at her local library, everything from Alice in Wonderland to Dune to Zane Grey, to early romance writers like Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart and Phyllis A. Whitney.

Career Jenkins worked full-time in the Michigan State University library's circulation department. Each lunch hour, she would read articles from The Journal of Negro History (now called The Journal of African American History).

Eventually, she and her husband moved to Ypsilanti, where she worked at the Parke Davis Pharmaceuticals' reference desk and began writing romance novels for fun. At the suggestion of a colleague, she looked for an agent and publisher, and sent her manuscript to Vivian Stephens, who agreed to represent her. Avon published her first novel, Night Song, in 1994.

Jenkins includes bibliographies with her historical romances so readers can read further, if they choose. 1999 – Romantic Times Western Historical Romance winner 2016 – Forbidden – Romantic Times Historical Romance winner