Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

By Robin Kaye I met Kate Duffy at my very first writer’s conference—the Washington Romance Writers’ Retreat. On the first day, I sat at a table on the patio next to Kate. I didn’t know she was the Grande Dame of Romance; I didn’t know she started Silhouette; I didn’t know she was the editorial director of Kensington and the creator of Brava. Hell, I was such a newbie I didn’t even know she was an editor of anything. One of us started a conversation and all I knew was that I liked her immediately. After that, we met on the patio for coffee or drinks at every conference we both attended. We rarely talked about writing. We always seemed to end up talking about her family or mine, and over the too few years I knew her we became great friends. Kate was someone I’d call a real mench. She was the person I’d want in my lifeboat. Not only would she come up with the perfect solution to any problem, she was the kind of person who would make me laugh as we’d watch the cruise ship sink. She was dir...

By Robin Kaye My friend Kate Duffy, the Editorial Director for Kensington, died Sunday and I spent Monday and Tuesday before writing this, laughing and crying (sometimes simultaneously) thinking about our time together. Kate was only 56 when she died, but she’d been referring to herself as a crusty old broad since I met her. Kate was wise beyond her years. She had a wicked sense of humor, and was the biggest proponent of the romance genre. In my opinion, she was the most outstanding author advocate God put on this earth. Kate was blunt—she never sugarcoated anything, but she was also one of the most giving and insightful women I ever met. Kate Duffy was a living legend in the world of Romance publishing. But to me, she’ll forever be my favorite crusty old broad. I met Kate at my first writer’s conference five or six years ago on the patio of Hilltop House, the old hotel that used to house the Washington Romance Writers Retreat. She invited me to sit with her and asked me about my work....