Amy Hill Hearth
"I'm a risk taker with my writing," Amy Hill Hearth (pronounced HARTH) says about her work. "I like to try new genres because I love to be challenged. Following my instincts without thinking of sales potential usually works out for me, anyway." Indeed, Amy's first book, which shocked the publishing world with its completely unexpected success, was the international bestselling oral history, HAVING OUR SAY: THE DELANY SISTERS' FIRST 100 YEARS, a N.Y. Times bestseller for more than two years which was adapted for Broadway and film. That book is still going strong, with new audiobook and ebook editions published Jan. 3, 2023. Since the 1993 publication of HAVING OUR SAY, Amy has written ten more books and won many national awards, with genres ranging from Southern fiction and oral histories for adult readers to biographies for young readers. Next up is Amy's first historical thriller, SILENT CAME THE MONSTER, a novel of the 1916 Jersey Shore shark attacks which will be published May 16, 2023. What her books have in common, she says, is that they are "stories from the past that resonate today." This reflects Amy's lifelong passion for American history as well as a lifelong fascination with the complexities of human nature and interactions. Born in Pittsfield, Mass., Amy has lived in various locations in her life, including Columbia, SC as a child, and, for the last 25 years, at the Jersey Shore.
“How hard it must be to keep fighting for a dream when that dream is probably a mirage.”
“...Mama used to say that when you don't know what to do, do nothing. She meant you can try too hard to solve a problem. If you give it a little time, the answer might just come to you plain as day.”
“A middle-aged mother in a little town called Naples has been named Miss Dreamsville.”
“...I could see the genius in allowing future to evolve. You could create momentum. You could launch something and see where it goes. You couldn't line everything up, like so many dominoes, and make everything fall into place.”
“I didn't want my epitaph to be "She Played It Safe.”
“Maybe freedom means defining yourself any way you want to be.”
“...one person can come along and change your life, and that being a misfit, as I was, doesn't mean you won't find friends and your place in the world.”
“There's an old Southern saying that if you're worried about your weight, clothes, or getting old, then you don't have any real problems.”
“It was terrifying, liberating, and risky. But one day I woke up and decided to try it." (On writing her first novel, "Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women's Literary Society")”
“Their story, as the Delany sisters like to say, is not meant as "black" or "women's" history, but American history. It belongs to all of us. (From the Preface of "Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years)”
“Life is short, and it's up to you to make it sweet.Sarah L. (Sadie) Delany”
“When people ask me how we've lived past one hundred, I say, 'Honey, we never married. We never had husbands to worry us to death!A. Elizabeth (Bessie) Delany”
“Writers, naturally, dream of becoming authors. Authors dream of writing a bestseller. Bestselling authors want to write more bestsellers. And everyone hopes for big prizes. Why? Because we believe in magic." Publisher's Weekly magazine, Dec. 12, 2011”