Episode 53: Kelly Finley

Send us Fan MailKelly Finley's moxie comes in hot. As "The Queen of Spice," she's built a readership on shameless love and heroines who refuse to be intimidated — and she wears that crown, black leather and all, with pride.By day, Kelly is a Senior Lecturer and Undergraduate Advisor for the Women's & Gender Studies Program at UNC Charlotte, where she's taught for over two decades and guided one of the largest WGS programs in the country. Her research and courses dig into female adolescence, virginity, body image, and women and work — the same threads that run straight through her fiction.In 2020, Kelly turned to writing fiction, using her knowledge and training in gender studies to underpin her romances featuring bad** women and grown-a** men. Nineteen books later, she's built a catalog of FMCs and MCs readers champion: complex, brave, whip-smart, and never, ever weak.In her books, Kelly's flips the script. Not satisfied by heroines who need saving, she writes women who are strong, layered, and unintimidated, who embrace their autonomy and communicate their needs, and men who can be real partners in the relationship.That same instinct to amplify girls' voices led her to found the Charlotte chapter of We Rock (formerly Girls Rock), a nonprofit that helps youth ages 10–16 find their voices through music, film, and community. It's the same mission wearing a different hat: give someone the tools, and get out of the way while they become who they already are and use their voices to make change happen for themselves and those around them.Kelly's moxie is consistent — she's spent her whole career making room for women and girls to be loud, complicated, and completely unapologetic.ResourcesWe Rock CharlotteKelly Finley BooksWomen's and Gender Studies Program at UNC CharlotteSocial LinksKelly Finley Books (@KellyFinleyBooks) • FacebookKelly Finley (@kellyfinleybooks) • Instagram photos and videosKelly Finley (Author of Holiday for Six)Kelly Finley Amazon Author PageKelly Finley PinterestSupport the show