Amy Hill Hearth

Happy to report a full house of more than 200 people and a wait list for my talk and book signing in Naples, Florida, which is the setting (circa 1962) of first novel, "Miss Dreamsville." Thank you to my hosts, Friends of the Collier County Library, for sponsoring this delightful event, held at a private club in Port Royal. Thanks, also, to Sunshine Booksellers of Marco Island, Fla., for expertly handling book sales. The audience was fabulous! It means so much that my novel is loved in the place where it is set.

Had a wonderful time meeting old friends and making new ones at the annual conference of ASJA (American Society of Journalists and Authors) in New York City. I was on a panel called, "So You Want to be a New York Times Bestselling Author."

Lovely article about "Miss Dreamsville" (and, really, about my life and career) in the Newark Star-Ledger's Sunday magazine. I'll post the link at the top left of this page.

I'm having fun "Skyping" with book clubs all over the U.S. It's free, and it's almost as good as being there in person. My most recent Skype "visits" were with a reading group in Baton Rouge, La., and the Caloosa Readers in Ft. Myers, Fla. Send me an email and I'll add your group to my calendar.

Hollywood interest is keeping me hopping! Can't say more, but keep your fingers crossed.

Here's a review of "Miss Dreamsville" that is so enthusiastic that one of my writer- friends from Texas said I ought to have it inscribed on my tombstone some day! It's from the Southern Literary Review:
"Sometimes, an exceptional writer finds an exceptional premise, and the result is a truly exceptional book. Such is the case with 'Miss Dreamsville'...The writing is brilliant, especially the dialogue through which the characters are defined." - Philip K. Jason/​Southern Literary Review

"Miss Dreamsville" is my first novel, but it's not my first book. I'm the author or co-author of seven nonfiction books, including "Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years," a New York Times bestseller turned Broadway play and award-winning film. I was portrayed in the film version by the actress Amy Madigan.

As Contemporary Authors stated in a 2009 overview of my career, my work gained national prominence with the publication of "Having Our Say." The book, published in 1993, was a New York Times Bestseller for 113 weeks. In 1995, it was adapted to the Broadway stage and, in 1999, for an award-winning television film.

I was a journalist before I became an author. "Having Our Say," in fact, began as a story I wrote about the Delany Sisters for the September 22, 1991 edition of The New York Times. As a reporter who had always been interested in telling the stories of older people, I had been eager to follow up on several leads about this reclusive and little-known pair of centenarian sisters. When I finally did meet them, my dream of an interview almost didn't work out, as I later told The New York Times in a story published on April 2, 1995. "They didn't think they were important enough," I told The Times. "I had to convince them and gave this little impromptu speech - that I thought it was very important that people from their generation be represented, especially black women who hadn't had much opportunity. I guess my enthusiasm rubbed off."

In 1995, I was an advisor to the producers Camille O Cosby and Judith James on the theatrical adaptation of the book. The adaptation was written by the playwright Emily Mann and opened on Broadway in April 1995. I served the same role - advisor to the producers - in 1999, when the book was adapted for the film.

I'm one of those persons who seems to be a born writer. I decided to make writing my career while a student at the University of Tampa, where I earned a B.A. in Creative Writing/​English in 1982. I was editor of the college newspaper in my senior year. My first job was assistant to the arts and entertainment editor at The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass. Later, I was a reporter at the Daytona Beach (Fla.) News-Journal. After moving from Florida to the New York area, I wrote 88 bylined news stories and features for The New York Times.

My awards include the following:

GEORGE FOSTER PEABODY AWARD for "excellence in television broadcasting," for my work on the film adaptation of HAVING OUR SAY (1999)

An AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION “Notable Book of the Year” (1994)

AMERICAN BOOKSELLERS ASSOCIATION “ABBY Honor Book” (1994)

CHRISTOPHER AWARD for Literature (1993)

NAACP IMAGE AWARD NOMINATION for Literature (1993)

NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY'S “Best Books for Young Adults” - four times (in 1994, 1995, 1997, and 2001).

GWEN AND C. DALE WHITE AWARD in 1995, a national award from the United Methodist Church, “for introducing the Delany Sisters to a world audience.”

The Broadway play adaptation of HAVING OUR SAY received three TONY AWARD NOMINATIONS, including Best Play, 1995.

The television film adaptation of HAVING OUR SAY won a CHRISTOPHER AWARD for Television and an NAACP IMAGE AWARD NOMINATION for Television, 1999.


BOOKS:

Delany, Sarah L. and A. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth. HAVING OUR SAY: THE DELANY SISTERS' FIRST 100 YEARS. New York: Kodansha America, 1993.

Delany, Sarah L. and A. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth. THE DELANY SISTERS BOOK OF EVERYDAY WISDOM. New York: Kodansha America, 1994.

Delany, Sarah L. with Amy Hill Hearth. ON MY OWN AT 107: REFLECTIONS ON LIFE WITHOUT BESSIE. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco/​Harper Collins, 1997. With watercolor illustrations by Brian M. Kotzky.

Hearth, Amy Hill. IN A WORLD GONE MAD: A HEROIC STORY OF LOVE, FAITH, AND SURVIVAL. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2001.

Hearth, Amy Hill. THE DELANY SISTERS REACH HIGH. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2004. Childrens biography of the Delany Sisters, with illustrations by Tim Ladwig.

Hearth, Amy Hill. 'STRONG MEDICINE' SPEAKS: A NATIVE AMERICAN ELDER HAS HER SAY: AN ORAL HISTORY. New York: Atria/​Simon & Schuster, 2008.

Pelosi, Nancy with Amy Hill Hearth. KNOW YOUR POWER: A MESSAGE TO AMERICA'S DAUGHTERS. New York: Doubleday, 2008.

Hearth, Amy Hill. MISS DREAMSVILLE AND THE COLLIER COUNTY WOMEN'S LITERARY SOCIETY: A NOVEL. New York: Atria/​Simon & Schuster, Oct. 2, 2012.

BROADWAY CREDIT:

Hearth, Amy Hill. Production advisor, theatrical adaptation of Having Our Say, 1995.

FILM CREDIT:

Hearth, Amy Hill. Production advisor, telefilm adaptation of Having Our Say, 1999.

MAGAZINE, NEWSPAPER CREDITS include:

The New York Times: 85 bylined stories from January 22, 1989 to June 14, 1992.

"Bessie and Sadie: the Delany Sisters Relive a Century," Smithsonian magazine, October 1993.

American Heritage article on the Delany Sisters, October 1993.

"You Can Fool Mother Nature," essay, Publisher's Weekly magazine, Dec. 12, 2011.

LITERARY MAGAZINE:

"Searching for Abraham," Tampa Review, Volume 23; 2002.

WEB CREDITS include:

"Having Their Say: Strong Voices from the Marginalized Majority," NWSAction, the online magazine of the National Women's Studies Association, Fall 2007.

"You Only Need One," ASJA Monthly, newsletter of the American Society of Journalists & Authors, January 2003.

"'Strong Medicine' Speaks," Smithsonian.com, January 2008.