Rita Williams-Garcia
My childhood reading helped to build me from the inside. More
Michele A’Court
I read because I want to live more than one life. Books take us out of ourselves into a whole other world. More
Lucy Hughes-Hallett
One life is not enough. More
Publishing Firsts: The Historical Romance Genre
At the time of its publication in 1972, nothing like Kathleen Woodiwiss’s The Flame and the Flower had ever been published. More
People of the Book
Winner of the Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year 2008. More
A Woman of Substance
With her unforgettable heroine Emma Harte, Bradford popularized the rags-to-riches family saga. More
The Thorn Birds
McCullough’s sweeping family saga of forbidden love in the Australian outback; became a bestselling phenomenon. More
Brochure from the 2009 celebration of Debbie Macomber’s fictional town of Cedar Cove
In August 2009, the real town of Port Orchard, Washington (bestselling romance author Debbie Macomber’s hometown), turned itself into Macomber’s fictional town of Cedar Cove for five days... More
Emma Freedman
Why I read: To escape the everyday in worlds that wildly creative people invite us into, and to expand the mind. More
The Other Boleyn Girl
The Tudor court seen as never before; this take on the Boleyn sisters reinvented the historical novel. More
Emma Donoghue
Like many teenagers, I spent more of my summer holidays than I probably should have immersed in the world of The Lord of the Rings. More
Katherine Applegate
I write to see where I’ve already been. More
The Hours
Winner of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize and PEN/Faulkner Award; made into an Oscar-winning film. More
Tracy Chevalier
I read because I want to know what it’s like to look at the world through someone else’s eyes, and reading is a remarkably efficient and vigorous way of doing that. More
Heather Graham
Why I read . . .Books are simply magic. More
Agatha Christie at her Devonshire home
Agatha Christie, known throughout the world as the Queen of Crime, is the best-selling novelist in history, outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare. More
Shilpi Somaya Gowda
At every stage of life, since being a kid with a flashlight under the covers, reading has always been my favorite activity. More
Lauren Oliver
I read so that I can learn and I write so that I can explore. More
Pallavi Aiyyar
I read to travel within and to range wide beyond my limited firsthand experiences. More
Cathy Marie Buchanan
I write because I’m compelled to create and writing is the act that best satisfies the itch. More
1970: Harlequin acquires Mills & Boon…
Harlequin acquires Mills & Boon and brings Harlequin books beyond bookstores and into supermarkets, drugstores, and other places women frequent. More
Sarah, Plain and Tall
Newbery Award winner about the power of family, which has sold over 4.5 million copies. More
1972: Avon launches the historical romance genre…
Avon launches the historical romance genre when it publishes Kathleen Woodiwiss’s The Flame and the Flower, a historical romance with a strong female lead and sexual situations that go a step beyond the tame romances of earlier eras. More
Ariel
Plath’s landmark poetry collection; includes “Ariel,” “Daddy,” and “Lady Lazarus.” More
Cathy Glass
I have always been a writer. More
Just Kids
Legendary artist Patti Smith’s critically acclaimed memoir; winner of the National Book Award. More
Katherine Paterson
I read because I want more than one life, and books give me a limitless number of lives—lives that are different from the one I was born into. More
