Author Gloria Mallette, a Finalist in the 2009 and a Winner in the 2007 National Best Books Awards in African American Fiction; and a Winner in the 2010 and 2008 National Indie Excellence Awards in African American Fiction was first published in 1995 by Holloway House with the title WHEN WE PRACTICE TO DECEIVE while she was employed part-time as a Federal Perkins Loan Coordinator at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, New York. However, by 2000, with five manuscripts and several rejection letters from major publishing houses in her file cabinet, with a nudge from her husband, Gloria stepped timidly out onto the self-publishing track.
In April of 2000, Gloria self-published SHADES OF JADE and by August had sold 13,000 copies when Random House came calling. SHADES OF JADE was re-published in June of 2001 and has since made several best sellers lists, including Black Board, Essence Magazine, The Dallas Morning News, The Washington Post/Washington is Also Reading listing and Upscale Magazine.
Gloria has been featured in ToDay’s Black Woman (2003, 2007), The New York Daily News (2000), USA Today ( 2001), The Pocono Record (2006, 2007), and has a novella, COME TOMORROW, featured on the USAToday.com website.
To date, Gloria has ten titles: SASSY, LIVING, BREATHING LIES, IF THERE BE PAIN, WHAT’S DONE IN THE DARK, DISTANT LOVER, THE HONEY WELL, PROMISES TO KEEP, WEEPING WILLOWS DANCE, SHADES OF JADE and WHEN WE PRACTICE TO DECEIVE.
Spring of 2010 marked a new beginning for Gloria. She realized her lifelong dream of becoming an artist. She now paints in acrylics in addition to continuing to write.
