Linda Cardillo

LINDA CARDILLO is an award-winning author of historical fiction and historical romance. She writes about the old country and the new, the tangle and embrace of family, and finding courage in the midst of loss.

In an earlier life Linda worked as an editor of college textbooks before earning an MBA at Harvard Business School at a time when women represented only 15% of the class. Armed with her Harvard degree, she managed the circulation of Inc. magazine during its successful start-up, founded a catering business, and then built a career as the author of several works of nonfiction, from articles in The New York Times to books on marketing and corporate policy. After directing a deeply satisfying fundraising campaign as a volunteer, she turned to the nonprofit sector and led development operations for academic and cultural institutions for nearly two decades.

Throughout her professional life and while raising her family, she nurtured her intention to write fiction. She studied with Jill McCorkle at the New England Writers’ Workshop and Julia Alvarez at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and then went on to teach creative writing before her award-winning debut novel, Dancing on Sunday Afternoons, launched Harlequin’s Everlasting Love series in 2007.

AWARDS AND HONORS

2025 Goethe Award for Late Historical Fiction

First Place

Paint the Wind

2022 Foreword INDIES Award

Bronze Medal in Romance Fiction

A Place of Refuge

2022 Chatelaine Award for Romantic Fiction

Finalist

A Place of Refuge

2019 NYC Big Book Award

Winner, Historical Fiction

Love That Moves the Sun

2019 Chaucer Award for Pre-1750 Historical Fiction

First Place

Love that Moves the Sun

2018 Foreword INDIES Award

Finalist in Historical Fiction

Love That Moves the Sun

2018 Booklife Prize

Semifinalist in General Fiction

The Uneven Road

2016 Goethe Award for Late Historical Fiction

First Place

The Boat House Café

2008 Georgia Romance Writers Maggie Award for Long Contemporary Fiction