Alegra Verde began writing erotic romance in 2009. That same year UK publisher, Virgin Black Lace, bought two of her short stories. Since then, her fiction has appeared in anthologies published by Zane, Cleis, Logical-Lust and others. Two of the novellas from her Glory Series, which chronicle the exploits of a happily aggressive young woman, were published as e-books and later in print by Harlequin’s Mira Spice. They have since been published in the soft cover anthologies Ten Shades of Surrender and Ten Shades of Seduction, and both have been translated into Italian, German and Japanese. In 2013, Avon’s Mischief published two of her short stories, “Heartless” and “The Engagement Party,” which appeared in Ladies who Love and Lords, Ladies, Butlers & Maids, respectively. Boroughs published two of her novellas, The Commitment and Lights Off, Lights On in January and February of 2015.
An avid reader of popular and “classic” fiction, Verde hopes to fuse elements of both in her work. She tries to create characters that have the allure and intensity of romance and the resonance and lasting meaning attributed to the literary. The women she loves to read are Emma Holly, Mary Jo Putney, Anais Nin, Ursula K. LeGuin, Edith Wharton, Isabelle Allende, Octavia Butler, Anna Castillo . . . The list could go on, but all of these women are guilty of portraying women at their best and at their worst, and in essence are conveying their humanity. Verde writes stories about vibrant women who are sexual human beings. She earned a Ph.D in English Literature from SUNY Albany. Currently, she lives in Detroit where she teaches writing and literature at a local college.