2013 Keynote: Robin Jones Gunn

Robin Jones Gunn over the past 25 years has written 82 books with almost 4.5 million copies sold worldwide. To her great delight, Robin’s books are doing exactly what she always hoped to do – they are traveling around the world and telling people about God’s love. She is doing the same. Over the past ten years Robin has been invited to speak at events around the US and Canada as well as in South America, Africa, Europe and Australia. She has two grown children and she and her husband live in Hawaii.

When Robin Jones Gunn was in first grade her teacher wrote on her report card, “Robin keeps the entire class entertained at rug time with her stories.”

Even with such an early affirmation, Robin didn’t seriously consider becoming a writer during high school or college. She was more intrigued by the idea of traveling to foreign lands and telling people about God’s love. But Robin’s husband also noticed her gift for story-telling and urged her to attend a writers’ conference. That first conference opened the door for publication of devotions, articles, interviews and eventually 15 children’s books. While on a camping trip with their church youth group, Robin grew concerned when she saw what the girls were reading in their tent. The 13 year-old girls challenged her, saying, “If you don’t want us to read these books then you should write novels for us. We’ll even tell you what to write. How hard could that be?”

For over two years Robin carved out time to write by getting up at 3am, three days a week. Each week she would read the finished pages to the girls in the youth group and they would send her home to write and rewrite some more. After ten rejections Robin’s first novel was accepted for publication and released in 1988. More books followed and soon the Christy Miller series was joined by the Sierra Jensen series, the College Years and the Katie Weldon series. Thousands of readers have contacted Robin over the years to let her know how these stories changed their life. Robin continued exploring other avenues of storytelling with gentle romances in the Glenbrooke series, women’s friendships in the Sisterchicks® series and family relationships in five women’s novels and two Father Christmas novellas.

Robin's awards include a Gold Medallion Finalist, a Christy Award Winner, and a Reader's Choice Award. She is a master storyteller. "Robin is compelling and delightfully funny, but bring tissue to her speaking events! Her honesty is disarming and her rich experiences add tremendous heart to her gift of storytelling." - Patsy Clairmont, Women Of Faith speaker and author

“Robin’s tender heart and wisdom make every one of her books poignant and unforgettable.” - Karen Kingsbury, New York Times bestselling author

“Gunn is adept at denuding light fiction of its usual tics and imbuing it with the hallmarks of literary fiction. The characters are multidimensional and ring true at nearly every turn.” -Publishers Weekly