with Gwynne Forster
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Gwynne
Forster
Gwynne Forster
is a national best-selling and award-winning author of
several general mainstream fiction titles, romance novels
and novellas.
She is winner of Black Writers Alliance 2001 Gold Pen
Award for BEYOND DESIRE, best romance novel. Romance Slam
Jam 2001 nominated Gwynne for three Emma Awards and for
its first Vivian Stephens Lifetime Achievement Award.
Romantic Times nominated her first interracial romance,
AGAINST THE WIND--which Genesis Press published in
November 1999--for its award of best ethnic romance of
1999, and nominated Gwynne for a Lifetime Achievement
award.
The Romance In Color internet site gave AGAINST THE WIND
its Award Of Excellence and named Gwynne 1999 Author Of
The Year. FOOLS RUSH IN, which BET Books published
November 1999 received the Affaire De Coeur Magazine award
for best romance with an African American hero and heroine
published in 1999. Her books won that award in 1997 and
1998. At its annual convention in Houston, TX on
April 25-29, 2007, the Romantic Times Book Review
Magazine gave Gwynne a
Career Achievement Award
for her romance novels featuring African American women
and men.
Gwynne holds bachelors and masters degrees in sociology
and a master's degree in economics/demography. Gwynne
sings on her church choir, loves to entertain, is a
gourmet cook and avid gardener. She lives with her husband
in New York City.
Read An Excerpt from Getting
Some of Her Own:
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Author's Official Website: http://www.GwynneForster.com
Author's Yahoo Group for Fans:
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Contact The Author:
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Order Your Copy Today:
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Urban Reviews: Start by telling
our readers about Getting Some of Her Own.
Gwynne Forster:
Getting Some of Her Own
is about the way in which people deal with adversity and how
what they do affects not only their own lives, but the lives
of those close to them and of others concerned. It's about
the kinds of love that people experience in their lives:
between children, between father and son, mother and
daughter, man and woman. It's about the price we pay for the
choices we make. And it's about friendship.
Urban Reviews: Was there
any instances or circumstances that drew you to write this
story?
Gwynne Forster:
No. Ideas come to me out of nowhere
sometimes, and then I ask myself what if, suppose this or
that happened. I let my imagination have sway, and a story
develops.
Urban Reviews: Your first
book Sealed With A Kiss was released back in 1995. Can you
tell us about how you got in the business and describe your
excitement when you landed your first deal?
Gwynne Forster:
How I got into this is too long a
story. Suffice it to say that it is only by accident that I
am writing fiction. I'm a demographer, and for years I
headed a research department at United Nations. As a
demographer I have 27 books and articles published under my
own name and numerous technical works published in the name
of the United Nations Secretary-General. So writing comes
naturally to me. However, I had to learn how to write
fiction; it's a totally different genre. I used to tell
myself stories to entertain myself as I traveled throughout
the world first for the UN and then for the IPPF (London),
decided to write one of the stories that continued cropping
up in my mind, realized that I had enjoyed writing it, and
decided to learn how to write a novel properly. I began
Sealed With A Kiss on January 2, 1994. I met the editor
and an agent at a conference in July of that year. The
editor asked for a synopsis and three chapters, which I sent
her. Two weeks later, she asked for the remainder of the
book, which wasn't written. I hurriedly finished it and got
that call from her October 21, 1994 for a two-book deal.
I've been writing fiction ever sense.
Urban Reviews: What is
the hardest part about writing a book?
Gwynne Forster:
Depends on the book, but I suppose
it's deciding on the story idea and theme. If you get that
wrong, you won't enjoy writing the book. It's important to
decide on an idea that you can live with for months and that
has great potential for character growth and development.
The story can't be static. So it's important to find one in
which you can produce change in the characters and over
time, and with which you can live happily.
Urban Reviews: Can you
give us a sneak peak at some of your upcoming novels?
Gwynne Forster:
My next novel of general fiction (as
opposed to romance) is titled A Different Kind Of Blues.
It is a story about a woman who gets some bad news, and
decides that she's going to stop being regimented, and she's
going to do all the things she always wanted to do. She
takes her credit card and checkbook and heads for the
unknown, open to whatever fate she encounters and doesn't
look back, until... (Kensington/Dafina will release the book
in October 2008.)
Urban Reviews: Do you
think readers are missing out when they don't take a chance
on black romance authors? Is there anything they can do to
change the tide?
Gwynne Forster: I
don't think it's a matter of taking a chance, but of taste
in reading matter. When white readers ignore literature
written by African American writers (other than Morrison and
other prominent ones), they're merely reflecting conditions
and attitudes in this country, to wit: if it's about African
Americans, it doesn't concern them. When African Americans
chose works of white writers over works of African American
writers, that is in part habit: For years, popular fiction
by African American writers was almost non-existent, because
publishers wouldn't even consider our works. So African
Americans had to read about white people if we wanted to
read at all. All of this is changing, thanks to Terry
McMillan and Kensington Publishing Corp.
Urban Reviews: What
advice would you give to aspiring authors?
Gwynne Forster:
Begin by writing what you know well,
but since one's knowledge is necessarily limited, learn the
value of research and how to do research.
Urban Reviews: Name one
thing that the world does not know about Gwynne
Forster...the person.
Gwynne Forster:
I'm ambidextrous with a Libra's
personality.
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Read our review of Getting Some Of Her Own in the
AA Fiction section.
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