Friends & Fiction
We’re four bestselling novelists and friends whose common love of reading, writing and independent bookstores bound us together. Now we want to share and celebrate stories—of the books we’ve written, the ones we’re reading now, and the art of writing—with each other and the guest authors we invite to join us. If you love books and are curious about the writing world, you’re in the right place.
MARY KAY ANDREWS
MARY KAY ANDREWS is the New York Times bestselling author of 30 novels (including The Homewreckers, The Newcomer, Hello, Summer; The High Tide Club; The Weekenders; Ladies’ Night; Spring Fever; and Summer Rental, all from St. Martin’s Press, as well as Savannah Breeze; Hissy Fit; Little Bitty Lies; and Savannah Blues, all Harper Collins), and one cookbook, The Beach House Cookbook.
A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, she earned a B.A. in journalism from The University of Georgia (go Dawgs!). After a 14-year career working as a reporter at newspapers including The Savannah Morning News, The Marietta Journal, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where she spent the final ten years of her career, she left journalism in 1991 to write fiction.
Her first novel, Every Crooked Nanny, was published in 1992 by HarperCollins. She went on to write ten critically acclaimed mysteries, including the Callahan Garrity mystery series, under her real name, Kathy Hogan Trocheck. In 2002, she assumed the pen name Mary Kay Andrews with the publication of Savannah Blues. In 2006, Hissy Fit became her first New York Times bestseller. To date, her novels have been published in German, Italian, Polish, Slovenian, Hungarian, Dutch, Czech and Japanese with more than 6-million copies of her books sold in the US alone.
Mary Kay is the co-creator and co-host of the popular weekly web show and podcast Friends & Fiction. She and her family divide their time between Atlanta and Tybee Island, GA, where they cook up new recipes in three restored beach homes, The Breeze Inn, Ebbtide, and Coquina Cottage—all named after fictional places in Mary Kay’s novels, and all available to rent through Tybee Vacation Rentals. In between cooking, spoiling her grandkids, and plotting her next novel, Mary Kay is an intrepid treasure hunter whose favorite pastime is junking and fixing up old houses.
KRISTIN HARMEL
KRISTIN HARMEL is the New York Times bestselling, USA Today bestselling, and #1 international bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names, The Winemaker’s Wife, The Room on Rue Amelie, and a dozen other novels that have been translated into 28 languages and sold all over the world.
A former reporter for PEOPLE magazine, Kristin has been writing professionally since the age of 16, when she began her career as a sportswriter, covering Major League Baseball and NHL hockey for a local magazine in Tampa Bay, Florida in the late 1990s. After stints covering health and lifestyle for American Baby, Men’s Health, and Woman’s Day, she became a reporter for PEOPLE magazine while still in college and spent more than a decade working for the publication, covering everything from the Super Bowl to high-profile murders to celebrity interviews. Her favorite stories at PEOPLE, however, were the “Heroes Among Us” features—tales of ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
In addition to a long magazine writing career (which also included articles published in Travel + Leisure, Glamour, Ladies’ Home Journal, Every Day with Rachael Ray, and more), Kristin was also a frequent contributor to the national television morning show The Daily Buzz and has appeared on Good Morning America and numerous local television morning shows.
Kristin was born just outside Boston, Massachusetts and spent her childhood there, as well as in Columbus, Ohio, and St. Petersburg, Florida. After graduating with a degree in journalism (with a minor in Spanish) from the University of Florida, she spent time living in Paris and Los Angeles and now lives in Orlando, with her husband and young son. She is the co-founder and co-host of the popular web series and podcast FRIENDS & FICTION.
KRISTY WOODSON HARVEY
Kristy Woodson Harvey is the New York Times, USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author of nine novels including Under the Southern Sky, The Peachtree Bluff Series, and The Wedding Veil. Her Peachtree Bluff Series is currently in development with NBC with Kristy as co-writer and co-executive producer. She is the winner of the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing, a finalist for the Southern Book Prize, and her books have received numerous accolades including Southern Living’s Most Anticipated Beach Reads, Entertainment Weekly’s Spring Reading Picks, and Katie Couric’s Most Anticipated Reads.
She blogs with her mom Beth Woodson on Design Chic about how creating a beautiful home can be the catalyst for creating a beautiful life. Design Chic is the inaugural member of the design blogger hall of fame, sponsored by Traditional Home, and winner of Amara’s Best Luxury Blog, as chosen by Roberto Cavalli. She also loves connecting with readers on kristywoodsonharvey.com.
Harvey is a Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s school of journalism and holds a master’s in English from East Carolina University, with a concentration in multicultural and transnational literature. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications and websites, including Southern Living, Traditional Home, Parade, USA Today, Domino, Our State and O. Henry. She has been seen in Today.com, Women’s Health, The Washington Post, US News and World Report, The Huffington Post, Marie Claire’s The Fix, Woman’s World, Readers’ Digest, Bustle, New York Live and North Carolina Bookwatch, among others.
Kristy is a co-founder and co-host of the hit weekly webshow and podcast, Friends & Fiction, with fellow authors Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel and Patti Callahan Henry. She is a proud member of the Tall Poppy Writers, serves on the board of The University of North Carolina’s Library Board, the Beaufort Historical Association, and is a member of the University of North Carolina’s Women’s Leadership Council. She is a frequent speaker at fundraisers, book conferences and private events. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and ten-year-old son where she is working on her next novel.
PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY
PATTI CALLAHAN HENRY is the New York Times, USA Today, and Globe and Mail best-selling author of fifteen novels, including the historical fiction (writing as Patti Callahan) SURVIVING SAVANNAH and BECOMING MRS. LEWIS, out now, and ONCE UPON A WARDROBE, coming October 2021. She has been named The Harper Lee Distinguished Writer of the Year, and has won The Christy “Book of the Year” Award, and the Alabama Library Association Book of the Year Award. She is the co-founder and co-host of the popular weekly web show, podcast, and Facebook group, Friends and Fiction. Follow her on Instagram, Facebook and on her website www.patticallahanhenry.com.
MARY ALICE MONROE
Mary Alice Monroe is the New York Times bestselling author of 27 books, including the bestselling The Beach House series. Monroe also writes children’s picture books and a new middle grade fiction series, The Islanders . Monroe is a member of the South Carolina Academy of Authors’ Hall of Fame, and her books have received numerous awards, including the South Carolina Center for the Book Award for Writing, the South Carolina Award for Literary Excellence, the SW Florida Author of Distinction Award, the RT Lifetime Achievement Award, the International Book Award for Green Fiction, the Henry Bergh Award for Children’s Fiction, and her novel, A Lowcountry Christmas won the prestigious Southern Prize for Fiction. The Beach House is a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, starring Andie McDowell. Several of her novels are optioned for film. She is the co-creator and co-host of the weekly web show and podcast Friends & Fiction. Monroe is also an active conservationist and serves on several boards. She lives on the South Carolina coast, which is a source of inspiration for many of her books.