The University of Iowa Libraries

Iowa author LeAnn Lemberger was born in 1954 and raised on a farm in Guthrie County. She earned her B.A. from Drake University, where, as a journalism student, she received both the Robert Bliss Award and William Randolph Hearst Award.

In 1981, Harlequin published her first romance novel, The Grand Hotel. She writes using the name Leigh Michaels, a combination of her own name and that of her husband Michael Lemberger. She now publishes an average of four new romances each year, making Leigh Michaels Harlequin's most-published American author. Her works have been translated into twenty-four languages and are sold in 120 countries. Most of her novels are set in the Midwest and LeAnn Lemberger still lives and writes in Ottumwa, Iowa. During the summer she teaches for the Iowa Summer Writing Festival in Iowa City. She has also written a text book and a self-help guide for students of creative writing.

The papers of LeAnn Lemberger date from 1982 to the present with additions being made each year. They are organized by publication date, with an alphabetical index. The vast majority of the collection consists of manuscript drafts of her various romance novels, such as The Best Made Plans, Family Secrets, and Traveling Man. Also included are articles by and about the author, copies of her newsletter Leigh Michaels Update, and teaching packets used for the Iowa Summer Writing Festival.

Where material has come to us in scrapbooks, these scrapbooks have been disbound and the material distributed into folders.

Beginning with the 2001 addendum, all duplicate copies and foreign language editions of Lemberger's books will be included in this manuscript collection. Previously, these volumes had been cataloged and shelved in the Iowa Authors Collection in Special Collections.

Alternate Extent Statement: Audio material: Reel-to-reel broadcast of radio program in Box N1; teaching materials in Box T1

Access: This collection is open for research.

Use: Copyright restrictions may apply; please consult Special Collections staff for further information.

Acquisition: These papers are being given to the University of Iowa Libraries by LeAnn Lemberger, with a new donation almost every year.

Preferred Citation: LeAnn Lemberger papers, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa.

Repository:	University of Iowa Special Collections
Address:	Special Collections Department University of Iowa Libraries Iowa City, IA 52242
Phone:	319-335-5921
Curator:	Greg Prickman
Email:	lib-spec@uiowa.edu
Website:	http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/

This collection is indexed under the following subject terms.

Corporate Names:
Iowa Summer Writing Festival

Topics:
Authors, American
Romance fiction
Women authors
Women authors, American

Geographic Names:
Iowa
Iowa

Genre/Form of Materials:
Drafts (Documents)

Browse:
English & American Literature
Writers Archive at Iowa
Novelists, Story Writers, & Poets