Jude Deveraux
Photo Credit: Deborah Feingold

About Jude Deveraux

Jude​ ​Deveraux​​ ​is​ ​the​ ​author​ ​of​ ​forty-three​ ​New​ ​York​ ​Times​ ​bestsellers,​ ​including​ ​​Sweet​ ​Liar​,​ ​the​ ​Nantucket series,​ ​and​ ​​A​ ​Knight​ ​in​ ​Shining​ ​Armor​.​ ​She​ ​was​ ​honored​ ​with​ ​a​ ​Romantic​ ​Times​ ​Pioneer​ ​Award​ ​in​ ​2013​ ​for​ ​her distinguished​ ​career.​ ​To​ ​date,​ ​there​ ​are​ ​more​ ​than​ ​sixty​-​million​ ​copies​ ​of​ ​her​ ​books​ ​in​ ​print​ ​worldwide.

More About Jude

The oldest of four children, Jude grew up in a tiny town outside Louisville, Kentucky. She studied art at Murray State University, specializing in fiber arts and ceramics. She was also on the varsity rifle team. After graduation, she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, hoping to work in the arts, but such jobs weren’t easy to find. For years she taught fifth grade and in the summers she took graduate courses at the University of New Mexico.

Every Friday she went to a bookstore, bought two fat paperback novels, and stayed up all night reading them. One night, both books were rape sagas. The “hero” raped a woman until she said she loved him. Jude turned out the light and thought If I read the perfect book, what would the plot be?

She began thinking about the story, complete with characters and dialogue. The sun came up, and she was still plotting in her mind. Three days of no sleep went by and the story was all she could think about. She thought that if she wrote down what was in her mind, it might stop. She bought a binder and some lined school paper and began to write.

Instead of going away, the story kept growing.

Meanwhile, she had a job and household responsibilities that took up all her time.

It was nearly two years before she finished the novel. Since it was all handwritten, she paid her next-door neighbor’s teenage daughter to type the pages. They came back bent and stained but readable.

Jude laughs now at her naiveté. She didn’t know you were “supposed” to get an agent before sending a book to a publishing house. She just packed it up and sent it to Avon Books, because they had pretty covers.

About a month later, she received a letter from them asking if they could please publish her book and send her money. The next day she quit her teaching job and started writing full time.

Jude has published over seventy novels, including A Knight in Shining Armor, The Summerhouse, The Girl From Summer Hill, and countless stories involving the Montgomery and Taggert families. She has over sixty-million books in print in eighteen languages. In 2013, Jude was recognized by Romantic Times with the Pioneer Award, a special recognition given to her as a pioneer in the romance genre.

Besides writing, Jude loves to travel the world and photograph her adventures. She swears she writes better on a cruise ship than she does on land. She’s lived in several states as well as England and Cairo, Egypt. Her other passions include boxing (she has a mean right cross) and weight lifting. She still writes all her novels by hand and watches English TV shows while she types her work.

When she’s back in the States, Jude lives in South Florida in a house filled with art from around the world. If she’s not traveling — and writing — she can be found in her comfy writing chair, in her screened-in patio, or driving around in her MINI Cooper.

Jude Deveraux
Photo Credit: Deborah Feingold

Awards

  • 2015 Publishers Weekly – Starred Review – Ever After
  • 2013 Pioneer of Romance Award Winner- Romantic Times Magazine
  • 2007 All About Romance Reader Award – Top 100 Romances (Winner) – A Knight in Shining Armor
  • 2004 All About Romance Reader Award – Top 100 Romances (Winner) – A Knight in Shining Armor
  • 2000 All About Romance Reader Award – Top 100 Romances (Winner) – Sweet Liar
  • 2000 All About Romance Reader Award – Top 100 Romances (Winner) – A Knight in Shining Armor
  • 2000 Career Achievement Award Winner – Romantic Times Magazine – Innovative Historical Romance
  • 1998 All About Romance Reader Award – Top 100 Romances (Winner) – Velvet Song
  • 1998 All About Romance Reader Award – Top 100 Romances (Winner) – The Velvet Promise
  • 1998 All About Romance Reader Award – Top 100 Romances (Winner) – Velvet Angel
  • 1998 All About Romance Reader Award — Top 100 Romances (Winner) – Sweet Liar
  • 1998 All About Romance Reader Award – Top 100 Romances (Winner) – A Knight in Shining Armor
  • 1998 All About Romance Reader Award – Top 100 Romances (Winner) – Highland Velvet
  • 1996 RT Reviewers Choice Award – Time-Travel (Winner) – Legend
  • 1991 RT Reviewers Choice Award – Medieval Romance (Winner) – The Conquest
  • 1990 RT Reviewers Choice Award – Historical Fantasy (Winner) – Wishes
  • 1988-1989 Career Achievement Award Winner – Romantic Times Magazine – Time Travel
  • 1988 RT Reviewers Choice Award – Historical Fantasy (Winner) – The Maiden
  • 1987-1988 Career Achievement Award Winner – Romantic Times Magazine – Best All Around Historical Romance