Virginia DeBerry & Donna Grant

With five novels to their credit, Virginia DeBerry and Donna Grant, best friends for 25 years, have turned a friendship into the most successful and enduring writing collaboration in African American fiction.

Donna and Virginia first met as plus size models vying for the same assignments. They were both featured in catalogs, ads, magazines and made national television appearances. Their modeling careers led to the opportunity to launch Maxima, a fashion and lifestyle magazine for plus-size women, where Virginia was editor-in-chief and Donna the managing editor. When publication of Maxima ceased, Virginia and Donna decided to try writing a book together. The result, Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made, was a critical success, an Essence Bestseller, as are all three of their books, and won the Merit Award for Fiction from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, as well as the 1998 Book of the Year Award from the Blackboard Bestseller List/African American Booksellers Conference-Book Expo America. More than that, it hit an emotional nerve with tens of thousands of readers from all over the world who continue to write to Virginia and Donna nine years after the book's publication. Far From the Tree became a New York Times Bestseller, and Better Than I Know Myself received two Open Book Awards, and was included on the Best African American Fiction lists of both Borders and WaldenBooks.

In addition to speaking at book fairs and literary festivals around the country for the past eight years, Virginia and Donna have been keynote, motivational/inspirational speakers and served on panels for a wide variety of meetings, organizations, companies, churches, cultural and educational institutions, including: Dell North America, Women Work!, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., FAMU, Speaking of Women's Health & the Texas Conference for Women. Their honest and powerful messages have received praise from literary, business and academic audiences. They have also appeared on CNN, Good Day New York and been featured on the pages of Essence, Glamour, American Woman, and Black Issues Book Review.

Donna, a graduate of New York University, is a Brooklyn, New York native and currently lives in the borough with her husband. Before becoming a novelist, she spent more than a decade as a plus size model, represented by the 12+ division of Ford Models. During that career, Donna was featured in catalogs and national ads, on the pages of such magazines as Essence, McCalls, Family Circle and Woman's Day, and has made appearances on "Today," "Good Morning America," and "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee."

Virginia is a former high school English teacher from Buffalo, New York attended Fisk University and is a graduate of SUNY at Buffalo. After almost 10 years in the classroom, she moved to New York and started a successful career as a plus size model. She was frequently featured in catalogs, advertising, magazines and appeared on several television programs including "The Today Show." She retired from modeling after two years and became Vice President of BB/LW, an agency for plus size and petite models as well as a spokeswoman for Hanes hosiery. Virginia now lives in New Jersey.

THE UNOFFICIAL STORY

(It’s shorter than the official one!)

We don’t know the exact date or the exact way our friendship started – but it feels like we’ve known each other our entire lives—even though we didn’t meet until we were grown. And after more than a quarter of a century, now that we are “way grown,” we have NEVER run out of things to say to each other, we STILL love spending time together—which makes this working together thing we’ve managed to keep going, extra special.

We don’t fight—never have. We don’t always agree—and often agree to disagree, but that’s what makes us interesting as people—we have maintained our friendship and our individuality without compromising either.

Our friendship is real. It is our glue. We are sisters with different parents. Our writing partnership is not a gimmick, it never was something we “thought up” for publicity. We don’t know whose idea it was to attempt the first book – at this point it doesn’t even matter because whatever we do collectively is “our” idea. No ego. No ownership. We are equal creative and business partners and we really ENJOY what we do!

We want to give our readers a good, well crafted story—plot, characters, and of course language are all important. Our goal is to create a story and characters that will hang around a while --- even after the book is closed—and nothing pleases us more than the great emails and letters we have received over the years telling us just that! Thank you for being our readers and supporters long before there was a MySpace!!!

Please visit our website www.deberryandgrant.com and email us at deberryandgrant@gmail.com