Judith McNaught (born May 10, 1944) is a bestselling author of over a dozen historical and contemporary romance novels, with 30 million copies of her works in print.
Unlike the typical Regency, "a light romp with no sex," her novels tended to be "intensely sensual and witty.
[9] McNaught was one of the first romance authors to receive a multimillion-dollar contract and have her novels published in hardcover, better positioning them for review by major publications.
Appalled at the discovery that one in five women was functionally illiterate, McNaught offered to rewrite her almost-completed manuscript, Perfect to insert the literacy theme.
[6] She was the keynote speaker at the Romance Writers of America Conference in 1996,[7] and in 1997, Texas Women's Monthly selected her among their four favorite authors, with John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell, and Dean Koontz.
[3] While McNaught at one time lived in Saint Louis, Missouri, she moved to Texas after falling in love with Dallas while on a book tour.
McNaught is active in children's charity and with breast cancer causes, and she has recently begun promoting literacy issues.
After creating a subplot on literacy in her novel Perfect, McNaught asked her publishers to include a response card in the book packaging.