Award Winning Journalist and Author, Rolonda Watts

Writer's Life Chats

Twenty years ago, broadcast journalist Rolonda Watts was all over the OJ Simpson trial, the first talk show to cover it and gain exclusive access inside the courtroom. While her counterparts in the talk show world were throwing chairs, breaking noses and popping paternity tests, Rolonda was getting kids out of gangs, saving teens from suicide, and going live in state prisons talking about moms beyond bars on her internationally syndicated show “Rolonda”. Since her days as a daytime TV show host and nightly news anchor, Rolonda has branched out as actress, voice-over artist, comedian, and novelist. Today, she draws on of her real-life experiences as a journalist, as a black woman, as a woman looking for love and proves herself a player in the romance genre. Rolonda’s recent novel Destiny Lingers (iUniverse; 978-1-49176-862-4; $27. 95) explores the love affair between former childhood friends from different socio-economic and racial backgrounds. It’s a story of sacrifice, racial divide in the South, betrayal and familial strife inspired by Watts’ personal experiences living in Topsail Island, NC, surviving Hurricane Bertha’s attack, as well as her own struggles with racism and love.