Sandra Kitt is an

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

author of contemporary

romance novels 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." Pr ...

. Her works have frequently made it to ''Essence'' magazine's "Black Board" bestseller lists.

Early years

Sandra Kitt was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

as the eldest of four children. Her dream was to illustrate children's books. After graduating from the Music and Art High School in New York, she earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts from City College of New York. During college she worked part-time at the astronomy library at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Career

Following her graduation, she spent several years working at a small advertising agency before returning to CUNY to pursue a master's degree. After completing half of the work required by her master's program, Kitt left school to become the head librarian at the astronomy library where she had previously worked. Although Kitt was comfortable with the job of cataloging the collection, she enrolled in classes at the

Hayden Planetarium The Rose Center for Earth and Space is a part of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. The Center's complete name is The Frederick Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Space. The main entrance is located on the n ...

to learn more about

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, nebulae, g ...

so that she would be better at her job. Through these classes she met many guest speakers such as Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov. In 1986, Asimov asked Kitt to illustrate a book he was writing on

Halley's Comet Halley's Comet or Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, is a short-period comet visible from Earth every 75–79 years. Halley is the only known short-period comet that is regularly visible to the naked eye from Earth, and thus the on ...

Writing career

Kitt began writing in the early 1980s for her own enjoyment. In six weeks, she had transformed her first idea into a 500-page manuscript. She continued to work on her ideas, finishing two additional manuscripts in the next year and a half. Shortly after finishing her third story, Kitt read an article in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' about an editor who was beginning a new line of books for

Harlequin Harlequin (; it, Arlecchino ; lmo, Arlechin, Bergamasque pronunciation ) is the best-known of the '' zanni'' or comic servant characters from the Italian '' commedia dell'arte'', associated with the city of Bergamo. The role is traditional ...

. Kitt called the editor, who requested two of Kitt's novels. Within a week, the editor had purchased both books, ''Adam and Eva'' and ''Rites of Spring''. In 1984 all three of her novels were published, making Kitt the first black author to write for Harlequin. In 1995, Kitt emerged from the romance genre with her first mainstream novel, ''The Color of Love''. This book has twice been optioned for film, once by HBO, and had nine printings by 2002. Her novels featured

characters, who rarely appeared in the gothic romances which she enjoyed reading. Kitt was one of the first authors within women's fiction to write from both the female and male point of view. Unafraid to tackle social issues in her works, Kitt has used her novels to study surrogate motherhood, abandoned children, race relations, and interracial/class differences. She has also often tackled interracial relationships. Kitt has been able to use her fine arts degree to illustrate one of her novels. In 1993 she designed and painted the cover that was eventually used for her novel ''Love Everlasting.'' In 2000, Kitt was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for contributing a story to the anthology ''Girlfriends''. Kitt has been nominated three times for ''Romantic Times'' Reviewer's Choice Awards. She is a recipient of their Career Achievement Award. In 2003, Kitt retired from her job as a museum librarian. However, she remained active in the Special Libraries Association. In addition to her writing, Kitt teaches a publishing and

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

course at a college. She has also written two film scripts and has interned with

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

for daytime soap operas.

Works

Novels

*''Rites of Spring'' (1984) *''All Good Things'' (1984) *''Adam and Eva'' (1984) *''Perfect Combination'' (1985) *''Only With the Heart'' (1985) *''With Open Arms'' (1986) *''An Innocent Man'' (1988) *''This Way Home'' (1989) *''Someone's Baby'' (1991) *''Love Everlasting'' (1993) *''Serenade'' (1994) *''Sincerely'' (1995) *''The Color of Love'' (1995) *''Suddenly'' (1996) *''Significant Others'' (1996) *''Between Friends'' (1998) *''Family Affairs'' (1999) *''Homecoming'' (1999) *''Close Encounters'' (2000) *''She's the One'' (2001) *''Southern Comfort'' (2004) *''The Next Best Thing'' (2005) *''Celluloid Memories'' (2007) *''For All We Know'' (2008) *''RSVP with Love'' (2009) *''Promises in Paradise'' (2010) *''Winner Takes All'' (2021)

Omnibus

*''For the Love of Chocolate'' (1996) (with Margaret Brownley, Raine Cantrell, Nadine Crenshaw) *''Baby Beat'' (1996) (with

Sandra Canfield Sandra or SANDRA may refer to: People * Sandra (given name) * Sandra (singer) (born 1962), German pop singer * Margaretha Sandra (1629–1674), Dutch soldier * Sandra (orangutan), who won the legal right to be defined as a "non-human person" ...

, Marisa Carroll) *''Sisters'' (1996) (with Anita Bunkley and Eva Rutland) *''Girlfriends'' (1999) (with Anita Bunkley and Eva Rutland) *''First Touch'' (2004) (with Francis Ray and Eboni Snoe) *''Have a Little Faith'' (2006) (with ReShonda Tate Billingsley, J D Mason and Jacquelin Thomas) *''Back in Your Arms'' (2006) (with Celeste O. Norfleet and Deidre Savoy) *''Cougar Tales'' (2009) (with Deidre Savoy and Evelyn Palfrey)

References

External links

Sandra Kitt Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitt, Sandra 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American romantic fiction writers American women novelists City College of New York alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Women romantic fiction writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers African-American novelists 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers