Michael Legat (24 March 1923 – 15 August 2011)
was a British writer of writers' guides and
romance novel
A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...
s. He was Chairman of
Swanwick writers' summer school
The Swanwick Writers' Summer School is an annual writers' conference held at The Hayes Conference Centre, near Swanwick, Derbyshire. Founded in 1948, and first held in the summer of 1949, it is believed to be the oldest independent writers' sc ...
and an associate vice-president of the
Romantic Novelists' Association
The Romantic Novelists' Association (RNA) is the professional body that represents authors of romantic fiction in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1960 by Denise Robins (first president), Barbara Cartland (first vice-president), Vivian Stuart ...
.
Legat was born in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, England. He worked as Editorial Director of
Corgi Books
Transworld Publishers Ltd. is a British publishing house in Ealing, London that is a division of Penguin Random House, one of the world's largest mass media groups. It was established in 1950 as the British division of American company Bantam ...
and later of
Cassell during 35 years, in 1978 he decided to turn to writing full-time.
He died in
Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
, aged 88.
Bibliography
Harcourt Saga
#''The Silk Maker'' (1985)
#''The Cast Iron Man'' (1987)
Novels
*''Mario's Vineyard'' (1980)
*''The Silver Fountain'' (1982)
*''The Shapiro Diamond'' (1984)
*''We Beheld His Glory'' (1988)
*''The Retiring Highwayman'' (1998)
*''Two's a Crowd'' (2001)
*''The Prison Within'' (2001)
*''The Pure in Heart'' (2001)
Non Fiction
*''Dear Author: Letters from a Working Publisher to Authors, Prospective and Practiced'' (1972)
*''An Author's Guide to Publishing'' (1982)
*''Putting on a Play'' (1984)
*''Writing for Pleasure and Profit'' (1986)
*''The Illustrated Dictionary of Western Literature'' (1987)
*''The Nuts and Bolts of Writing'' (1989)
*''How to Write Historical Novels'' (1990)
*''Plotting the Novel'' (1992)
*''Understanding Publishers' Contracts'' (1992)
*''Non-fiction Books: A Writer's Guide'' (1993)
*''The Writer's Rights'' (1995)
*''An Author's Guide to Literary Agents'' (1995)
*''Revision: An Author's Guide'' (1998)
*''Michael Legat Writer's Guides'' (1999)
*''Writing Your Life Story'' (1999)
*''Rehearsal'' (1999)
*''They Read Books and Go to Cocktail Parties'' (2000)
*''Writing for a Living'' (2000)
*''The Ultimate Simple Writer's Guide'' (2004)
References
English book publishers (people)
English romantic fiction writers
1923 births
2011 deaths
20th-century English novelists
People educated at Whitgift School
20th-century English businesspeople
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