Romance Authors Tell All

Local Writers Hold Public Panel and Book Signing Event.

Raleigh, NC, July 27, 2006 --(PR.com)-- Five local, popular romance authors are scheduled to speak at a panel discussion and book signing event at Barnes & Noble, Brier Creek, on Saturday, August 12 from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. The Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, a non-profit chapter of the Romance Writers of America, is sponsoring the event in which Karen Dodd, Candy Halliday, Virginia Kantra, Emilie Rose, and Jacqueline Thomas will autograph their latest books. The featured authors' works range from romantic suspense, romantic comedy, Christian romance, and sensual love stories to memoirs.

Gloria Lesher of MMI Associates, Inc. will moderate the panel. "More than half of all popular mass-market fiction sold is romance," said Lesher. "This panel of popular authors will provide an entertaining afternoon and give the public the opportunity to ask everything they have always wanted to know about what it is like to be a successful romance author."

About HCRW
The Heart of Carolina Romance Writers (HCRW) is a non-profit chapter of the Romance Writers of America located in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. The organization's goal is to stimulate interest, inform and educate aspiring, as well as published, writers and to bring together authors, editors, agents, and other related professionals for the mutual benefit of all. HCRW promotes romance writing by supporting published writers; advising, encouraging and educating aspiring writers; and providing accurate information about the romance genre to the media. For more information visit http://www.heartofcarolina.org/.

About Candy Halliday
When Candy Halliday first started sending manuscripts out to publishers, the rejection letters all said the same thing: "Too humorous for our needs." It didn’t take Candy long to decide that romantic comedy was where she should be. Candy sold her first book to Harlequin Duets, and she now writes for the Hachette Book Group (formerly Warner Books.) To date, Candy’s romantic comedies have been translated into six different languages and published in nine different countries around the world. Making her home in the Piedmont of North Carolina, Candy loves to hear from readers and can be reached via e-mail at her website: www.candyhalliday.com.

About Virginia Kantra
USA Today best-selling author Virginia Kantra is a six-time Romance Writers of America RITA Award finalist and has won numerous writing awards, including Georgia's Maggie Award, Virginia’s Holt Medallion, and 2003 and 2004 National Readers’ Choice Awards. In addition to her single title romantic suspense, she has written over a dozen books for Silhouette. A resident of Raleigh for 18 years, Virginia frequently uses North Carolina settings for her books, interviewing local law enforcement experts and drawing on her own experience as a transplant from the North. For more information visit: http://hometown.aol.com/virginiakantra/.

About Emilie Rose
North Carolina native and bestselling author Emilie Rose has been hooked on romance since she was eleven and her mother used to hide Harlequins under a sofa cushion. So it could be said that curiosity led Emilie toward happy endings. Emilie married her college sweetheart and together they have four sons. Emilie has recently sold her 18th novel to Harlequin. Writing is her third (and hopefully her last) career. She’s managed a medical office and run a home day care, neither of which offers half as much satisfaction as plotting happy endings. For more information visit: http://www.emilierose.com/.

About Jacquelin Thomas
Jacquelin Thomas is an award-winning, best-selling author with twenty-four titles in print. Other credits include contributions to the Women of Color Devotional Bible and Brides Noir magazine. She won an EMMA award in 2000 for her novel, Love’s Miracle. Her books have garnered other awards, including the Romance In Color Reviewers Award, Readers Choice Award, the Atlanta Choice Award in the Religious & Spiritual category. In 2005, Jacquelin was an honoree at the Houston Black Film Festival for the movie adaptation of her novel, Hidden Blessings. She is the first recipient to receive the Writers Achievement Award at the First Annual North Carolina Book Festival in Winston-Salem and was nominated for a 2005 Career Achievement Award by Romantic Times Magazine. She is a member of the National Writers Union, Romance Writers of America and the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. She is happily married to her best friend and is the proud mother of three children. Jacquelin and her family live in North Carolina. For more information visit: http://www.jacquelinthomas.com/.

About Karen Dodd
Karen Dodd retired from her successful financial planning practice in 1997 to move aboard her boat and cruise the waters between Baltimore and the Florida Keys. Although the boat is sold, she still writes about the coastal waters and its people. Her latest book, Carolina Comfort II is a collection of short stories, some creative non-fiction and some pure fiction, but the protagonist is always a lady past 50! Dodd calls this her "over the hill" book about the tribulations and joys of surviving middle age! Dodd's articles and essays appear in publications like T’ai Chi International, Southwinds, Northeast Corridor, Living Aboard, Rambler and Our State. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Carteret Writers, Romance Writers of America, and Heart of Carolina Romance Writers. She teaches writing workshops for Craven and Pamlico Community College. Dodd currently resides in New Bern, NC with her husband and is a grandmother of two. For more information visit: http://www.geocities.com/kedodd2/index.html.

About MMI Associates, Inc.
MMI Associates, Inc. is a full-service marketing and public relations firm offering a wide range of services to help clients achieve measurable results in brand awareness, name recognition, market penetration and crisis management. Established in 1994 in Phoenix, Arizona, this award-winning firm was named one of the top 10 public relations firms in the state by Arizona Business Magazine and bizAZ Magazine. In North Carolina, the Triangle Business Journal’s Book of Lists for 2004 and 2005 recognized MMI as one of the top public relations firms in the Triangle. The firm has received numerous MarCom Creative Awards, the 2005 Videographer Award and the Communicator Awards. For more information, please call 919-233-6600 or visit the Web site at http://www.mmimarketing.com.

Media and Press Contacts:
Patty Briguglio
MMI Associates, Inc.
7406-H Chapel Hill Road
Raleigh, NC 27607
(919) 233-6600 • (919) 233-0300 (fax)
patty@mmimarketing.com

###
Contact
MMI Associates
Patty Briguglio
919-233-6600
www.mmimarketing.com
ContactContact
Categories