ReShonda Tate Billingsley - Essence Magazine's #1 best-selling author & HABJ Spirit award winner

This author of 18 books didn't wake up one day with a best-seller to her credit. She started writing and didn't quit until she was successful. She always had an active imagination, and from novels to poems, ReShonda loved to tell stories. After rejections from publishers, she stepped out on faith, established her own publishing company, and released her debut novel, My Brother's Keeper. The book caught the attention of a literary agent who got her a deal with major publisher, Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books. The rest, as they say, is history. ReShonda went on to sign one deal after another with Simon & Schuster/Pocket Books, and has now published 16 books with the company, including her most recent adult novel, Can I Get a Witness? and teen novel, Friends 'Til the End. Her other projects include Essence Magazine's bestsellers, Let the Church Say Amen, the sequel, Everybody Say Amen, and I Know I've Been Changed. Theseare all currently being made into movies where she will serve as executive producer. ReShonda's literary career has been so successful that in 2007, she left her job as a reporter with KRIV, Fox 26 News in Houston to write full time. She is a member of The National Association of Black Journalists and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Visit ReShonda at MySpace www.myspace.com/reshonda_tate_billingsley