Posts
Kathleen Woodiwiss, grand dame of the romance genre, passed away on July 6. Her sweeping historical romances in the 1970s are the first books that most avid romance readers name as the ones that turned them into fans of the genre. Many have even named their children after her characters. Here is a letter from her son, posted in a fan forum. I found this link at the Romantic Times Message Board:
Hello. I am very sorry to inform you all of the death of my mother Kathleen. She took the death of my brother a bit harder than we thought and the cancer came back with a vengence. She passed away Friday morning at 0630 in Princeton, MN. I just want to thank you all for all of your support and being such great fans. My Mom was amazed at all of the people that supported her. Her final book is done, but not finished. We will be trying to polish it up for her. Her editor at Harper Collins has been a great source of stress for my Mom and the rest of us as well, so I am not sure how that will work out, but we are trying to get the book published as fast as possible. We all want this to be her greatest book ever. Thank you again for all of your support.
My condolences to the Woodiwiss family. She will be missed by legions of fans.
My first Woodiwiss book was Shanna. I still remember The Flame and The Flower fondly. I also had the privilege of meeting her at RWA a few years ago and I'll always treasure the book she signed.
I bet many of you grew up reading with her book on your keeper shelf.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
The Passing Of An Uber Icon
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
The first book of hers I read was A Rose in Winter. In fact, I had to buy a new copy after the first I bought got soaked when I was caught out in rain. I still have that plus The Wolf and the Dove on my shelves. She'll be missed.
How said, the romance genre has lost an icon. But even sadder, Kathleen's son has lost his mother.
Woodiwiss is the one who made me love the medeival (sp) romance. Her first five books: Flame/Flower; Wolf/Dove; Shanna; Ashes in the Wind; Rose in Winter--five of my all-time favorite historicals.
Many romance authors are wonderful storytellers but Woodiwiss went beyond that--she painted pictures with her words the were so vivid to my feeble imagination. I found delight just in reading her sentences, their structure, rhythm. Woodiwiss was a genuine talent.
All of us here at Avon extend our deepest condolences to the Woodiwiss family. We pledge to work together with her family to ensure that Everlasting is a lasting, glowing testimony to the talent and passion of this amazing author. She will be missed, dearly.
If find this so terribly sad. She was one of the 1st romances I read. I pinched it off my mums bookshelf and read it at night while I supposed to be asleep! She had The Wolf and the Dove and The Flame and the Flower. Wonderful stories!
I have such wonderful memories of biking down to the local library as a teenager and getting her books out. I'd then put them on the back of my bike carrier and scoot home to devour them. Not only memories of her stories but where and how I was then.
Even as a relatively new reader of romance, I have almost everything of hers on my bookshelf.
What a loss to romance as a genre!
My most sincere sympathies to her family :(
Kathleen, Dee, Sarah, Pamela and Aimee,
I'm sure, wherever she is, that she's happy that everyone has such good memories of her books.
Post a Comment