Quick Facts
Biography
Michele Bardsley is the pen name of Michele Freeman (born Michele Renee Vail on January 21, 1970 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) who is an award-winning American writer of paranormal and contemporary romantic fiction. Bardsley is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author and has published more than 40 novels, novellas, short stories, and articles since the publication of her first book in 1999. She's written young adult paranormal fiction under Michele Vail. She lives in Texas with her husband, four dogs, and two cats.
Biography
Michele Bardsley was born and raised in Oklahoma but also has family roots in Texas and Arkansas. She is the oldest of three sisters and one brother. Bardsley's father was a Marine and after proudly serving his country, he became a successful businessman in the computer industry. Her mother was a homemaker.
At the age of 12, Michele decided she wanted to be a writer and often penned poems and short stories. As a teen, she attended Claremore High School, where she excelled in Honors English, worked on the yearbook, and became one of the few high school freshman to join The Tatler, Claremore High School's newspaper. Her senior year she became The Tatler's Managing Editor. She moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma mid-senior year and attended Thomas A. Edison High School (now renamed Thomas Edison Preparatory School).
Michele graduated high school in 1988 as academic letterman and attended Tulsa Junior College (now renamed Tulsa Community College), where she worked on the TJC Connection (now renamed The TCC Connection) and eventually became the Managing Editor. After she graduated with an Associate Degree in Liberal Arts, she transferred to Northeastern State University. When her ex-husband's job took their family to Las Vegas, she turned in her books for a life in the desert. She worked as editor and writer for a Las Vegas publisher and then an e-book publisher.
She received her first publishing contract in 1998 from pioneer electronic publisher, Hard Shell Word Factory, for her romantic comedy, Daddy In Training (out-of-print). She’s had numerous short stories, novellas, and novels published by electronic, independent, and traditional publishers. Her novel, Because Your Vampire Said So (Signet Eclipse, 2008), received the 2008 RT Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Vampire Romance.
Over the years, her work has earned awards and recognition from many organizations and publications. A few include: “A Mother Scorned” won the Grand Prize in the 72nd Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition; Love Gone Wild (formerly published as Wild Women) received OWFI’s coveted trophy award for Best Book of Fiction and FWA’s Royal Palm Award for Best Romance Novel; and A Demon is a Girl’s Best Friend was awarded Crème de la Crème from the Oklahoma Writer’s Federation, Inc. Bardsley's poetry, nonfiction, and short-short fiction have received awards and recognition from Northwoods Journal, Tulsa Community College, Byline Magazine, Scribe & Quill, Oklahoma State University, Amazing Instant Novelist, OWFI, Writer's Bloc, Writer's Digest, and WriteLink.