Judith Ivory
Encyclopedia
Judith Ivory is the pen name of Judy Cuevas, a best-selling
American
author
of historical
romance novels.
, Ivory's English professor invited her to join the invitational honors program based on writing ability and told her to consider a career as an author. While she enjoyed the honors program, Ivory decided that she needed a backup plan. She earned an undergraduate degree in applied mathematics and a master's degree in theoretical mathematics, and also completed post-graduate work in English at Cambridge University. She taught math at the junior high and high school level before accepting a position as a professor at the University of Miami
.
She began her writing career in earnest when her children were toddlers. At first, she concentrated on non-fiction articles for parenting magazines. After finishing her first novel, Starlit Surrender, Ivory sent it to twelve publishing houses. It sold nine weeks later and was published in 1988 by Zebra. Ironically, the week the book was published she received a rejection letter for the same book from Pocket Books." Ivory switched publishing houses, to Berkley, for her second novel, Black Silk. Berkley had a backlog of novels by other writers and were unable to schedule her book very quickly, leading to a three-year gap between the novels. It took another four years before her third book, Bliss, was published. This time, the gap was due partially to personal event. In 1992, within a four month span Ivory's children fell ill with collapsed lungs, her husband filed for divorce, and their home was hit by Hurricane Andrew
. The children recovered, the house was rebuilt, and Ivory has gotten on with her life, but it caused a major delay in the completion of her book.
After her 1996 release Dance, Ivory left Berkley for a publishing deal with Avon. Avon requested that she change her name. Her previous books had been published under her real name, Judy Cuevas. They hoped that a new marketing campaign under a new name would enable her books to sell in larger quantities because bookstores did not have a preconceived notion of how many books she might be able to sell. Under Avon's guidance, Ivory has become much more successful, graduating to the super lead position (the second highest level) for their romance line by [1999]. She has been awarded the Romance Writers of America
RITA Award and the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award.
Ivory has a large family, including her own brother and fifteen aunts and uncles. Her family is very supportive, to the point that her father has been known to buy all the copies of her latest book at a local bookstore and demand that the owner reorder. One of Ivory's aunts likes to attend her book signings and tell passersby that Ivory is the best writer alive.
Ivory is most productive when she devotes a continued amount of time to her work. She often works eight to ten hours a day, six days a week, with a more abbreviated schedule on Sundays. After completing a book, she takes a break, often choosing to travel. Unfortunately, since the mid-2000s back problems have prevented Ivory from completing her latest work in progress, a Victorian-set novel that is potentially the first in a series.
Ivory has a son and daughter, both of whom are now on their own. She lives in Miami, Florida
.
American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
of historical
Historical romance
Historical romance is a subgenre of two literary genres, the romance novel and the historical novel.-Definition:Historical romance is set before World War II...
romance novels.
Biography
As a child, Judith Ivory liked to gather the other neighborhood children together and tell them stories. She carried a notebook with her and would often jot down poems, essays, and short stories. In her first semester at the University of FloridaUniversity of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
, Ivory's English professor invited her to join the invitational honors program based on writing ability and told her to consider a career as an author. While she enjoyed the honors program, Ivory decided that she needed a backup plan. She earned an undergraduate degree in applied mathematics and a master's degree in theoretical mathematics, and also completed post-graduate work in English at Cambridge University. She taught math at the junior high and high school level before accepting a position as a professor at the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
.
She began her writing career in earnest when her children were toddlers. At first, she concentrated on non-fiction articles for parenting magazines. After finishing her first novel, Starlit Surrender, Ivory sent it to twelve publishing houses. It sold nine weeks later and was published in 1988 by Zebra. Ironically, the week the book was published she received a rejection letter for the same book from Pocket Books." Ivory switched publishing houses, to Berkley, for her second novel, Black Silk. Berkley had a backlog of novels by other writers and were unable to schedule her book very quickly, leading to a three-year gap between the novels. It took another four years before her third book, Bliss, was published. This time, the gap was due partially to personal event. In 1992, within a four month span Ivory's children fell ill with collapsed lungs, her husband filed for divorce, and their home was hit by Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew was the third Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States, after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and Hurricane Camille in 1969. Andrew was the first named storm and only major hurricane of the otherwise inactive 1992 Atlantic hurricane season...
. The children recovered, the house was rebuilt, and Ivory has gotten on with her life, but it caused a major delay in the completion of her book.
After her 1996 release Dance, Ivory left Berkley for a publishing deal with Avon. Avon requested that she change her name. Her previous books had been published under her real name, Judy Cuevas. They hoped that a new marketing campaign under a new name would enable her books to sell in larger quantities because bookstores did not have a preconceived notion of how many books she might be able to sell. Under Avon's guidance, Ivory has become much more successful, graduating to the super lead position (the second highest level) for their romance line by [1999]. She has been awarded the Romance Writers of America
Romance Writers of America
Romance Writers of America is a national non-profit genre writers association. It provides networking and support to individuals seriously pursuing a career in romance fiction and supports top authors such as Nora Roberts and Judith McNaught.-History:...
RITA Award and the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award.
Ivory has a large family, including her own brother and fifteen aunts and uncles. Her family is very supportive, to the point that her father has been known to buy all the copies of her latest book at a local bookstore and demand that the owner reorder. One of Ivory's aunts likes to attend her book signings and tell passersby that Ivory is the best writer alive.
Ivory is most productive when she devotes a continued amount of time to her work. She often works eight to ten hours a day, six days a week, with a more abbreviated schedule on Sundays. After completing a book, she takes a break, often choosing to travel. Unfortunately, since the mid-2000s back problems have prevented Ivory from completing her latest work in progress, a Victorian-set novel that is potentially the first in a series.
Ivory has a son and daughter, both of whom are now on their own. She lives in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
.
As Judith Ivory
- Angel in a Red Dress (2006) [Reissue of Starlit Surrender]
- Untie My Heart (2002)
- Black Silk (2002)
- The Indiscretion (2001)
- The Proposition (1999)
- Sleeping Beauty (1998)
- Beast (1997)