Leigh Michaels
is the author of more than 75 contemporary romance novels published by Harlequin Books. More than 30 million copies of her books have been printed worldwide.
Six of her books have been finalists for Best Traditional Romance novel in the RITA contest sponsored by Romance Writers of America. She has received two Reviewer=s Choice awards from Romantic Times. She is the 2003 recipient of the Johnson Brigham award given by the Iowa Library Association to an Iowa author for a substantial and sustained literary contribution to American culture.
Her work has been translated and published in 120 countries in more than 25 languages, including Japanese, Korean, Hungarian, Polish, Portuguese, Czech, Bulgarian, Russian, Turkish, Greek, Swedish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Africaans, Hebrew, Chinese, and Arabic.
She is the author of non-fiction books such as ON WRITING ROMANCE, published by Writers Digest Books, and CREATING ROMANTIC CHARACTERS. She has produced audio tapes on subjects of interest to writers in general. She is the author of DEAR LEIGH MICHAELS: A Novelist Answers the Most-Asked Questions about Getting Published, and of a cookbook, A TASTE OF LOVE.
She teaches romance writing at in-person seminars and on the Internet at Gotham Writers= Workshop, www.writingclasses.com. Men and women from around the world have participated in her workshops, and a number of them have gone on to publish their own romance novels with commercial publishers.
She wrote her first romance novel when she was fifteen and burned it, then wrote and burned five more complete manuscripts in the next ten years before submitting to a publisher. Her first submission was accepted and published by Harlequin, the first publisher to look at it.
She prefers to write sweet traditional romances, set in Midwestern cities or small towns and emphasizing family values.
A native Iowan, she received her bachelor of arts degree in journalism from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, finishing her degree program in three years and graduating summa cum laude.
For more information about Leigh,
including upcoming books and events,
visit www.leighmichaels.com