Debbie Macomber was born on October 22, 1948. Macomber is the author of more than 150 novels; she primarily writes romance and women's fiction.

Macomber's first venture into the publishing world was discouraging. At a romance writer's convention, she was selected to present one of her manuscripts to an editor from Harlequin, a major publisher of romance novels. The editor didn't like her book and told her she should throw it away. Macomber submitted the manuscript to Silhouette, which was Harlequin's major competitor at the time (Harlequin acquired Silhouette in 1984), and they bought it.

Silhouette published Macomber's first novel, Starlight (e-book), in 1983, followed quickly by Heartsong (e-book | print), the book that had been so harshly criticized by Harlequin's editor. By the late 1980s, she was publishing 7 or 8 novels each year, many of them in linked groups with common characters or settings, such as her six-volume Navy series (e-book | print).

In 2002, Macomber's Thursdays at Eight (e-book | print | audio) marked a shift in her writing away from romance. It told the story of four women whose friendship helps each of them through the challenging moments in their lives. Similar stories about the value of friendship and community have been a major focus of Macomber's work since then.

Macomber has a fondness for stories set at Christmas, and publishes a new Christmas novel almost every year. The Christmas Basket (e-book | e-audio | print) won a RITA Award in 2003 from the Romance Writers of America as one of the year's most distinguished books.

Macomber continues to write both stand-alone novels and series. The ongoing Cedar Cove series centers on the residents of a small Washington town; it began with 16 Lighthouse Road (e-book | print | audio). The series was the basis for the TV series Cedar Cove, which ran for three seasons on the Hallmark Channel; season 1 is available on DVD.

In the last decade, Macomber has ventured into nonfiction, writing books about knitting, cookbooks, and the importance of faith. Her most recent book is the cookbook Debbie Macomber's Table (print). In addition to the titles listed above, many more of Macomber's novels are available as e-books and in print.

Also This Week

October 26, 1861

The Pony Express ceased operations. The mail delivery service existed for only 18 months, delivering letters and mail between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California. Riders changed horses at each station along the route, about every ten miles. Mail could be delivered from one coast to the other to about ten days, and the Pony Express got the news of President Lincoln's 1860 election victory to California only seven days after the news appeared in eastern newspapers. Jim DeFelice tells the history of the Pony Express in West Like Lightning (e-book | e-audio | print | audio).

October 25, 1891

Charles Coughlin was born. Coughlin was a Catholic priest who became a national figure with his weekly radio broadcasts in the 1930s. Coughlin supported Franklin Roosevelt during his 1932 campaign for the Presidency, but soon parted ways with Roosevelt over financial policy. By the mid-1930s, Coughlin's broadcasts had become more sharply political; in the years before the United States entered World War II, they became overtly anti-Semitic and pro-fascist. His broadcasts were shut down by the Roosevelt administration in 1939. In Voices of Protest (e-book | print), Alan Brinkley tells the parallel stories of Coughlin and Huey Long, and their Depression-era campaigns against Roosevelt.

October 23, 1958

Michael Eric Dyson was born. Dyson is a professor of sociology and the author of twenty books on various aspects of African-American culture. His subjects have included Hurricane Katrina, the decline of the black middle class, Marvin Gaye, and Malcolm X. His most recent book, What Truth Sounds Like (e-book | e-audio | print | audio), is built around a 1963 meeting between Robert Kennedy and a group of civil rights activists led by James Baldwin, which Dyson uses as a springboard to explore the current state of race relations in America.

October 27, 1978

Vanessa-Mae was born. Vanessa-Mae is a violinist whose albums of light classics and popular tunes have sold millions of copies; in the United Kingdom, she's so popular that her music occasionally crosses over to the pop charts. She has occasionally recorded major pieces from the classical repertoire—the Beethoven and Tchaikovsky violin concertos, for instance—but most of her albums are more like Storm, a collection of short pieces that straddle the line between classical and pop.