Bio of Kimberla Lawson Roby

Kimberla Lawson Roby


New York Times Bestselling Author, Kimberla Lawson Roby, has published eleven novels which include, ONE IN A MILLION, SIN NO MORE, LOVE & LIES, CHANGING FACES, THE BEST-KEPT SECRET, TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING, A TASTE OF REALITY, IT’S A THIN LINE, CASTING THE FIRST STONE, HERE AND NOW, and her debut title, BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, which was originally self-published through her own company, Lenox Press. Her novels have frequented numerous bestseller lists, including The New York Times and those in The Washington Post, Publishers Weekly, Essence Magazine, Upscale Magazine, Emerge Magazine, Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, The Dallas Morning News, and The Austin Chronicle to name a few and both BEHIND CLOSED DOORS and CASTING THE FIRST STONE were #1 Blackboard bestsellers for four consecutive months in both 1997 and 2000. BEHIND CLOSED DOORS was the #1 Blackboard Best-selling book for paperback fiction in 1997.

In addition, Ms. Roby’s first novel was nominated for Blackboard’s 1998 and 1999 Fiction Book of the Year Award, and she received the Blackboard Fiction Book of the Year Award in 2001 for CASTING THE FIRST STONE. She is also the 2006 and 2007 recipient of the Author of the Year – Female award presented by the African-American Literary Award Show in New York, the recipient of the 1998 First-Time Author Award from Chicago’s Black History Month Book Fair and Conference, and her fifth novel, A TASTE OF REALITY, was a 2004 finalist for the Atlanta Choice Awards sponsored by the Atlanta Daily World. Additionally, TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING received a 2004 Patron Choice Award from the Central Mississippi Regional Library System.

Each of Ms. Roby’s novels have dealt with very real issues---in BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, social status, gambling addiction, and infidelity; in HERE AND NOW, single motherhood, infertility, and sibling rivalry; in CASTING THE FIRST STONE, the first of the Reverend Curtis Black series, corruption within the church; in IT’S A THIN LINE, domestic violence, sexual abuse, and care-giving of a parent; in A TASTE OF REALITY, racial and gender discrimination in the workplace with subplots exploring sexual harassment; TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING and THE BEST-KEPT SECRET, continuations of the Reverend Curtis Black series; in CHANGING FACES, overweight issues, a female illness, damaging secrets and a devoted friendship between three women; in LOVE & LIES and SIN NO MORE, the Reverend Curtis Black saga continued and in ONE IN A MILLION, a woman learns the best news and the worst news of her life all at the same time.

Ms. Roby resides in Illinois with her husband, Will. Her twelfth title, THE BEST OF EVERYTHING, will be released on January 13, 2009.