Jill Marie Landis

Jill Marie Landis (born November 8, 1948, in Clinton, Indiana, United States) is an American author of historical and contemporary romance novels. She is a two-time winner of the Romance Writers of America RITA Award.

Biography Jill Marie Landis was born on November 8, 1948, in Indiana, but moved to California when she was only ten years old. While studying for her B.A. in history from Long Beach State University, Landis held summer jobs working as a ride operator for Fantasyland at Disneyland.

Upon graduation, she spent ten years as a kindergarten teacher and then three years teaching English as a Second Language part-time. Although Landis wrote her first romance novel in junior high, she did not decide to pursue a writing career until 1983. Three years after she committed to writing a full-length novel, Landis sold a manuscript. From 1988 through 2003, she published sixteen historical romance novels. In July 2003, she made her debut in the contemporary romance genre. In 2008, her first inspirational historical romance, Homecoming, was published by Steeple Hill. It was followed in 2009 by The Accidental Lawman. Writing for Zondervan, Landis published Heart of Stone, the first book of the Irish Angels Series in 2010.

Personal life Landis is married and lives in Long Beach, California (as of 2016).