Kathryn Shay is a lifelong writer. At fifteen, she penned
her first 'romance,' 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—and with one hardheaded editor in particular.
Looking back, Kathryn says she should have known then that writing
was in her future. But as so often happens, fate sent her detouring
down another path.
Fully intending to pursue her dream of big city lights and
success in the literary world, Kathryn took every creative writing
class available at the small private women's college she attended in
upstate New York. Instead, other dreams took precedence. She met and
subsequently married a wonderful guy who'd attended a neighboring
school, then completed her practice teaching, a requirement for the
education degree she never intended to use. But says Kathryn, "I
fell in love with teaching the first day I was up in front of a
class, and knew I was meant to do that."
Kathryn went on to build a successful career in the New
York state school system, thoroughly enjoying her work with
adolescents. But by the early 1990s, she'd again made room in her
life for writing. It was then that she submitted her first
manuscript to publishers and agents. 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 first sale, Kathryn has written eighteen books
for Harlequin, five mainstream contemporary romances for the Berkley
Publishing Group, and two online novellas, which Berkley has
published in traditional print format.
Kathryn has become known for her powerful
characterizations—readers say they feel they know the people in her
books—and her heart-wrenching, emotional writing (her favorite
comments are that fans cried while reading her books or stayed up
late to finish them). In testament to her skill, the author has won
five RT BookClub Magazine Reviewers Choice Awards, three Holt
Medallions, two Desert Quill Awards, the Golden Leaf Award, and
several online accolades.
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 her career
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 my dreams."
