Happy 60th Anniversary, Harlequin – and Long Live Presents!
10 Comments July 2nd, 2009 in 60th anniversary, books, editor, on the web Posted by Amyby Harlequin Presents Executive Editor Tessa Shapcott
The Harlequin story started in May 1949 — 60 years of publishing the most successful fiction in the world! In its earliest years, the Harlequin list covered the total spectrum of paperback publishing, with names such as Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to its credit. But romantic fiction began to dominate from the late 1950s onwards, with the launch of Harlequin Romance in 1958.
Fast forward to 24 years to May 1973: this is when Harlequin Presents was born. Initially, the series was based around publishing three authors: Anne Hampson, Anne Mather and Violet Winspear. But readers responded so enthusiastically to these dramatic, sophisticated and sexy stories that the programme was soon expanded and there began a golden age that launched the careers of writers who were to become international names, selling millions of copies around the globe — Charlotte Lamb, Penny Jordan and Carole Mortimer, to name but three.
Since then, there’s been no stopping us. Presents has remained the top romance series in North America and demand for our unique mix of romantic fantasy, international settings, intense emotion and passionate excitement continues. Currently we offer 12 titles a month, 8 in Harlequin Presents and a further 4 via Presents Extra.
What’s the secret of Presents’ sustained success? It lies with our fabulous writers who range in age from 25 to 80 and hail from the United Kingdom, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. All are dedicated to bringing readers their favourite dark, powerful and ruthless alpha-heroes and the very best in storytelling. Presents authors, we salute you — thank you for 36 years of pure reading pleasure!
Throughout 2009, to celebrate its 60th birthday, Harlequin is putting the spotlight on a particular series every month. July focuses on Presents. So don’t miss out on your chance to enjoy the best of the best in Harlequin Presents: the start of our fabulous new continuity miniseries, The Royal House of Karedes, which kicks off with BILLIONAIRE PRINCE, PREGNANT MISTRESS, a truly lovely story by Sandra Marton; the launch of a brand new author debut book — PIRATE TYCOON, FORBIDDEN BABY by Janette Kenny — and the chance to delight in Lynne Graham, Kim Lawrence, Kate Hewitt, Carole Mortimer, Kate Hardy and Susan Stephens. Presents Extra offers a brilliant collection of four novels with the theme Forced to Marry by Sara Craven, Daphne Clair, Christina Hollis and Margaret Mayo.
And if you’ve still got room for another helping, look out for our special anniversary free download, THE PRICE OF PASSION by Susan Napier. Visit eharlequin.com/60thanniversary for more details.
And check out the eHarlequin Community at http://community.eharlequin.com throughout July for more fun events tied to the series spotlight, including author posts on their favourite heroes, Presents title bingo, and more!
Tagged with: Harlequin Editor Tessa Shapcott • Harlequin's 60th Anniversary • Series Spotlight on Harlequin Presents
Ah, a trip down memory lane that was, Tessa!
I wasn’t an early reader of Presents as I had no time to read at all in the 70s. But I found them in the 80s and remember falling in love with some early Anne Mather and Charlotte Lamb titles, then avidly gobbling up as many new ones by other authors as I could find.
I did love Leopard in the Snow and still have my copy of it.
The beauty of so many Presents books is the power of the narrative and the characters in the hands of very compelling writers. I’ve got a lot of keepers because of writers who grabbed me and I simply went willingly wherever they took me. It’s always been an honor to write for the line.
I remember Leopard in the Snow, too – and loved it, but I think I must’ve come to it in the late 70s. My first Presents read was Sara Craven, and she’s still as fabulous today.
With you, Anne, on it being a real thrill to write for Presents – and I hope I give my readers that same feeling of magic that the authors have always given me.
I remember Leopard in the Snow. Wish I still had my copy. I must have read it in the very late 70s, early 80s. These were the books I cut my teeth on as a kid, my first adult stories really, and to be writing them now – well, it’s amazing. I’m honored, and I hope I continue the fine traditions of this line with my own stories.
As Anne says, thanks for that lovely trip down memory lane, Tessa. I first “discovered” Presents around the time I sold to it, in the mid-80s. Among the first Presents authors I read were Robyn Donald and Charlotte Lamb. Both wrote–Robyn still does–dark, dangerous, exciting, sexy heroes and created deeply emotional stories. I was hooked.
Reading Presents is a joy. Writing for it is a, as Lynn says, an honor. I am as thrilled to see each of my books on the stands as I was when I saw the first one, more than 20 years ago.
Tessa, thanks for this post. It evoked terrific memories. I started out reading Anne Hamspon, Violet Winspear and Anne Mather when I was very young and I still remember ‘Leopard in the Snow’.
What a success story this line has been. You encapsulated the allure of the line when you referred to dramatic, sophisticated and sexy stories. Those are the hallmarks of Presents that hook me as a reader again and again, drawing me into passionate stories that satisfy and at the same time make me want to reach for another as soon as I’ve finished reading.
It’s an absolute honour to be writing for my favourite line with so many terrific, talented authors. I still grin at the thought that I’m a Presents author. It’s a dream come true.
Like everyone else I enjoyed that trip down memory lane. Thank you Tessa.
Though of course being a UK reader, I never knew about Presents books until I was actually published – I just read the Mills & Boon books that were available – and not split up into different lines.
But I loved Anne Mather’s books, whatever label they were publisehd under. I loved Leopard in the Snow but hated the film version which had none of the power of the book. But it was another Anne Mather story – Witchstone – that got me back into reading romances afterthe demands of university and my first job had taken me away from them.
It was only when I found out about the way the books were published as Presents or Romance that I realised that the authors I’d been following all along – Anne M, Charlotte Lamb, Robyn Donald – were in fact Presents authors and now I’m so proud to be counted amongst their number.
Here’s to the next 60 years!
Kate
I too didn’t think Leopard in the Snow made it as a film. I was very disappointed in it. I don’t actually think our type of romance actually translates into films very well.
My mother used to read Mills & Boon red hard cover library editions and I guess it’s where I first got interested in them – although they weren’t my favourite books in those days. Today though…
Tessa, wonderful post! The first Presents I read was Anne Mather’s Leopard in The Snow, and I became a fan of the author and line then. My grandmother read every Presents published since their start and kept those books in her attic to reread. I loved to steal up there and indulge, and often dreamed of one day seeing my name on a book.
I’m thrilled beyond words to write for Presents! This is truly a dream come true.
It’s pretty amazing how many of the authors Tessa mentioned are still writing for M&B/Presents, isn’t it? Wow!
I have to confess…I picked the Leopard in the Snow cover to put up just because the title sounded cool. Guess it stands out both in memory *and* to someone who hasn’t read it before! I had no idea it was made into a movie, either. Hmmm, wonder if I could find a copy….
~Amy
Fabulous to read that, Tessa. Happy 60th to Harlequin, indeed!
I recall meeting you briefly when you came over to the Isle of Man for an M&B writer’s workshop at Crogga, while they were filming “Island of Dreams”. Do you remember that?
“Presents” has been an incredibly successful line. There are many authors from around or even before my mother’s time whose books are worth collecting and reading. I sometimes find them in secondhand shops. Karen Van der Zee, for instance. Some of them were so unique and colourful, and the writing astonishingly deft and evocative.
Of course, “Leopard in the Snow” has remained one of my own touchstone romances, like many of my mother’s. I’m writing a Regency at the moment: my irascible hero has a scar and a war-wound limp, and is often inapproachable, very much in the style of Mather’s infamous “Leopard”. Like others here, though, I thought the film wasn’t very effectively done at all.
But perhaps an intense inner conflict between two characters can be hard to portray on screen, even though it works beautifully on the page. Something like Pride & Prejudice works on screen because of the many other characters weaving in and out of the main romance. Ditto with the recent Twilight vampire saga. Just goes to show that, in the age of the screen, we still need books …