Kendra Norman-Bellamy


Kendra Norman is an African-American writer of Christian fiction and non-fiction Christian literature. Her novels are praised for their positive male lead characters and their combined romantic and suspenseful story lines.

Biography

Kendra Norman is a native of West Palm Beach, Florida, but spent most of her formative years in southern Georgia. She graduated from Brooks County High School in Quitman, Georgia.
Kendra and her husband, Michael Holmes, have a blended family of two daughters and one son. Her first husband, Jimmy died. She and Jimmy married at St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church in Valdosta, GA when Kendra was 21 and Jimmy was 20. Shortly after their daughter was born, Jimmy was diagnosed with AIDS, possibly as the result of a blood transfusion. He died on October 5, 1995, a few days before their 7th wedding anniversary, and in her grief, Kendra began to write.
Her first novel, For Love & Grace, was published in 2002. She worked days, and in the evenings, she pursued higher education at Valdosta Technical College, where she majored in Information Office Technology and graduated in 1997. There, she was inducted into the National Vocational Technical Honor Society. She was given a computer as a college graduation gift. She and her current husband, Michael married in 2014. In 2017, Kendra and Michael jointly wrote a 31-day relationship devotional entitled Cross-Fire. It was her twenty-second published work and her husband's first. Kendra received a Doctor of Divinity degree from St. Thomas Christian University in in 2019. As an ordained and consecrated minister, Kendra is the senior pastor of Deliverance Revival Church in Central Georgia.
Previously writing under the pen name Kendra Norman-Bellamy, she began officially writing as Kendra Norman in 2013.

Career

Kendra is the founder and creative director of Royalty Publications LLC, an independent self-publishing house that produces the works of writers of Christian-based fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. She is the creator and host of "The W.A.R. Cry", a gospel radio show that airs each weekend on Highest Praise Radio.
She self-published her debut novel, For Love & Grace in 2002. The book was re-released in 2004 through BET Books.
Kendra gained national bestseller status when her third release, Crossing Jhordan's River, peaked at #1 on Essence magazine's best sellers list for paperback fiction.
The majority of her works have been produced through three large book publishers: Moody Publishers, Kimani Press, and Urban Books.
In 2020, Kendra became the first African American to be managing editor for Houston Home Journal newspaper in its 150-year history. In 2022, she left her corporate job and created an independent faith-based digital newspaper, The Royal Trumpet.

Awards

  • 2004: Best BET Romance of the Year, Shades of Romance Magazine
  • 2004: Best Multi-cultural Christian Fiction Author, Shades of Romance Magazine
  • 2004: Best Multi-cultural Christian Romance, Shades of Romance Magazine
  • 2005: Best Christian Author, Memphis Black Writer's Conference
  • 2006: African American Literary Award for Best Christian Fiction
  • 2007: African American Literary Award for Best Romance
  • 2008: African American Literary Award for Best Anthology
  • 2008: African American Literary Award for Best Christian Fiction
  • 2009: Best Anthology of the Decade, EDC Creations
  • 2013: Georgia Excellence Award, Small Business Institute for Excellence in Commerce
  • 2014: Trailblazer Award, I Inspire To Write Author Explosion
  • 2022: Heritage Award, Jubilee of Reading 20th Anniversary Conference