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Kathryn Shay

Kathryn Shay is a lifelong writer. At fifteen, she penned a short story about a female newspaper reporter in New York City and her fight to make a name for herself in a world of male journalists. She never stopped writing, even as she went on to build a successful career in the New York state school system—a true vocation for her. But by the early 1990s, while still teaching, she began her first novel. Despite enduring two years of rejections, she persevered. And on a snowy December afternoon in 1994, Kathryn Shay sold her first book to Harlequin Superromance.  

Since that sale, Kathryn has written twenty-five books for Harlequin, ten mainstream contemporary romances and two novellas for the Berkley Publishing Group. More books are contracted and on the way! Her most recent sale is a general fiction work for Bold Strokes Books, to be released in September, 2010.  

Kathryn has become known for her powerful characterizations and her heart-wrenching, emotional writing. In testament to her skill, she has had one of her books serialized in the December 2003 Cosmopolitan magazine and has been quoted in People magazine and The Wall Street Journal.  For her romances, she has won five RT BookClub Reviewers Choice Awards, three Holt Medallions, four Desert Quill Awards, the Golden Leaf Award and The Bookseller’s Best Award.  

Even in light of her writing success, that initial love of teaching never wavered for Kathryn. She finished out her teaching career in 2004, retiring from the same school where she began. These days, she lives in upstate New York with her husband and two children. "My life is very full," she reports, "but very happy. I consider myself fortunate to have been able to pursue and achieve both my dreams."