Leanna Renee Hieber

http://www.leannareneehieber.com

Award winning, bestselling author, actress and playwright Leanna Renee Hieber grew up in rural Ohio inventing ghost stories. She graduated with a BFA in Theatre from Miami University, a focus in the Victorian Era and a scholarship to study in London. The Gothic, dramatic, historic, spiritual and paranormal are the primary forces in her lyrical, eerie, atmospheric fiction. While performing as a professional actress she adapted works of 19th Century literature for the stage and her one-act plays such as Favorite Lady garnered national attention and continue to be produced around the country.

Her novella Dark Nest won the 2009 Prism Award for excellence in Futuristic / Fantasy / Paranormal Romance.

Her debut novel, The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker is the first in her Strangely Beautiful series of ghostly, Gothic Victorian Fantasy novels published by Dorchester Publishing and landed on Barnes & Noble’s mass market and overall Bestseller List. The book was named a favourite of 2009 by 14 genre book review blogs including Beyond Her Book at Publishers Weekly and Smart Bitches/Dear Author’s book tournament and won two 2010 Prism Awards for Best Fantasy and Best First Book. The Darkly Luminous Fight for Persephone Parker (Strangely Beautiful #2) and a novella in the series (Strangely Beautiful #2.5) included in A Midwinter Fantasy continue the series slated for four books.

The option rights have been sold to Mt. Clair Entertainment for adaptation of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker into legit musical theatre production. Development team includes Kenny Seymour, musical director of Memphis, the 2010 Tony Award Winner for Best Musical, and Jim Abbott who brought shows like Wicked, Tarzan and more to the Broadway stage.

Represented by Nicholas Roman Lewis, Leanna is a member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA), Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), Horror Writers Association (HWA) and the International Thriller Writers (ITW). She is proud to be a co-founder of Lady Jane’s Salon Reading Series in New York along with authors Hope Tarr, Maya Rodale and Ron Hogan of Beatrice.com. The Salon showcases talent in the sub-genres of romance and women’s fiction and supports charities for women in need.

A member of Actors Equity Association (AEA), the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Leanna works often in television. When not writing or on set, she’s a devotee of ghost stories and Goth clubs, adventuring about her adopted hometown of New York City, where she resides with her real-life hero and beloved rescued lab rabbit Persebunny.