Sandra Kitt facts for kids

Sandra Kitt is an African-American author. She writes popular romance novels. Her books have often been on the "Black Board" bestseller lists in Essence magazine.

Early Life and Education

Sandra Kitt was born in New York City. She was the oldest of four children. When she was young, she dreamed of illustrating children's books. She went to the Music and Art High School in New York. Later, she earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts from City College of New York. While in college, she worked part-time at an astronomy library. This library was located at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

Career Journey

After college, Sandra Kitt worked at a small advertising agency. Then, she went back to CUNY to study for a master's degree. She left school after completing half of her master's program. She became the head librarian at the same astronomy library where she had worked before.

Even though she was good at organizing books, Kitt wanted to learn more. She took classes at the Hayden Planetarium to understand astronomy better. This helped her improve at her job. In these classes, she met famous people. These included Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov. In 1986, Isaac Asimov asked Kitt to illustrate a book. He was writing about Halley's Comet at the time.

Becoming a Writer

Sandra Kitt started writing in the early 1980s. She wrote just for fun. Her first idea turned into a 500-page story in only six weeks! She kept working on her stories. She finished two more books in the next year and a half.

Soon after finishing her third story, Kitt read an article. It was in The New York Times. The article was about an editor starting a new line of books. This was for Harlequin. Kitt called the editor, who asked to see two of her novels. Within a week, the editor bought both books. These were Adam and Eva and Rites of Spring. In 1984, all three of her novels were published. This made Sandra Kitt the first Black author to write for Harlequin.

In 1995, Kitt wrote a different kind of novel. It was called The Color of Love. This book was very successful. It was considered for film twice, once by HBO. By 2002, it had been printed nine times.

Her novels often featured African-American characters. These characters were not common in the gothic romances she enjoyed reading. Sandra Kitt was one of the first authors to write from both female and male points of view. She was brave enough to write about social issues in her books. Her novels explored topics like surrogate motherhood, abandoned children, and race relations. She also often wrote about relationships between people of different races.

Kitt used her fine arts degree to illustrate one of her own novels. In 1993, she designed and painted the cover for her book Love Everlasting.

In 2000, Kitt was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. This was for a story she wrote in the book Girlfriends. She has also been nominated three times for Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Awards. She even received their Career Achievement Award.

In 2003, Kitt retired from her job as a museum librarian. However, she stayed active in the Special Libraries Association. Besides writing, Kitt teaches a course at a college. It is about publishing and creative writing. She has also written two film scripts. She even interned with ABC for daytime soap operas.

Published 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 Collections

• For the Love of Chocolate (1996) (with Margaret Brownley, Raine Cantrell, Nadine Crenshaw)
• Baby Beat (1996) (with Sandra Canfield, 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)

See also

• List of romantic novelists