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Harley Jane Kozak Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Harley Jane Kozak

Harley Jane Kozak

Harley Jane Kozak Biography

Harley Jane Kozak was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and grew up in North Dakota and Nebraska, where her mother taught music at the University in Lincoln. She had acted in more than 30 plays when she went to New York City to attend NYU's School of the Arts (now Tisch School of the Arts). After completing the program, she was cast in the feature film The House on Sorority Row. She later had principle roles in three soap operasTexas, Guiding Light and Santa Barbaraand had made her way to Los Angeles, where she went on to star in feature films and prime time television programs. Ten years later she began to write novels.

Her works include Dating Dead Men (2004), Dating Is Murder: A Novel (2005), A Date You Can't Refuse (2009), Keeper of the Moon (2013).

Kozak currently lives with her family in Southern California, where she's working on an international thriller. Meanwhile, she's added teaching, blogging and public speaking to her resumi.

Harley Jane Kozak's website

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Interview

Harley Jane Kozak talks about her first book, what inspired her to write it, and whether she is the model for her lead character, Wollie, a very well endowed greeting card designer.

In what ways is Wollie like you?
Wollie's a greeting card designer, and I've been a perpetual doodler my whole life, an amateur, completely uneducated graphic artist . . . For the last 20 years, I've made my own Christmas cards, shlepped them to the printer, sent out 500 to my nearest and dearest--a mildly idiosyncratic obsession that Wollie would understand. Neither Wollie nor I has much physical courage (although I'm in better shape and run more than she does, and I am, I might add, much less well-endowed. Also shorter and less blonde.) And we're both indoor people. Who would be happier in a world where we never had to drive a car.

After a successful acting career, what drew you to writing?
In my teens and twenties I was an avid letter-writer and diary-keeper, and then, upon graduating from NYU's graduate acting program, had an almost overpowering urge to have a baby and write a play. I postponed the baby, wrote the play, workshopped it a bit, put it away, tried to write a screenplay, a novel, a musical, put them away, and then, 15 years later, took a short story class from a genius who teaches at Santa Monica College, Jim Krusoe. I lived for his class. I can't adequately describe ...

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Books by this Author

Books by Harley Jane Kozak at BookBrowse
Dead Ex jacket Dating Dead Men jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Harley Jane Kozak but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Tim Cockey

    Tim Cockey

    Tim Cockey grew up in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Educated in Ohio, London and Copenhagen, he later returned to Baltimore where he worked with a local newspaper in advertising sales and design while moonlighting under a ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Dating Dead Men

    Try:
    Hearse of a Different Color
    by Tim Cockey

  • Janet Evanovich

    Janet Evanovich

    Janet Evanovich (born Janet Schneider, 1943, in South River, New Jersey) began her career writing short contemporary romance novels under the pen name Steffie Hall, but became a #1 New York Times bestselling author writing a ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    Dating Dead Men

    Try:
    Four To Score
    by Janet Evanovich

We recommend 4 similar authors

View all 4 Read-Alikes

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