Beverly Jenkins (born 1951, Detroit) is an American author of historical and contemporary romance novels with a particular focus on 19th century African-American life. Jenkins was a 2013 NAACP Image Award nominee and, in 1999, was voted one of the Top 50 Favorite African-American writers of the 20th century by the African American Literature Book Club. Jenkins's historical romances are set during a period of African-American history that she believes is often overlooked. This made it difficult to break into publishing because publishers weren't sure what to do with stories that involved African-Americans but not slavery. Jenkins studied at Michigan State University as a Journalism and English Literature major. She lives in Southeastern Michigan. Photo: By DrJayk - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41996920