Courtney Milan, a pseudonym for Heidi Bond, is an American author of historical and contemporary romance novels.
24 Facts About Courtney Milan
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Courtney Milan served on the board of directors of the Romance Writers of America for four years, spearheading efforts to make the organization more diverse and inclusive.
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In late 2019, the RWA board voted to suspend Courtney Milan for calling another author's book racist.
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Courtney Milan was born in 1976, to her American father Doug Bond, a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Riverside, and her Chinese-American mother, Gloria.
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Courtney Milan wrote her first book at the age of ten and intended to be an author from a young age.
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Courtney Milan received a bachelor's degree with a double major in mathematics and chemistry from Florida State University in 2000.
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Courtney Milan attended the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned a master's degree in theoretical physical chemistry.
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Courtney Milan then went to the University of Michigan Law School, where she received the Henry Moore Bates scholarship.
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Courtney Milan later alleged that during her time in his employ, Kozinski called her into his office three times to look at pornography and repeatedly asked if the images aroused her.
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Courtney Milan discussed the harassment and the discomfort it caused her with her friend and fellow author Eve Ortega, but chose not to report it.
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Courtney Milan was then hired to clerk for the Supreme Court of the United States, first for Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and then for Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy.
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Courtney Milan took a year-long sabbatical to transition from practicing law to teaching.
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Courtney Milan began reading romance novels during her time as a law clerk, as a diversion from the voluminous legal research she was required to do.
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Under this model, Courtney Milan reportedly earned "an average household income" from the sale of her books.
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Courtney Milan wanted increased control over how her books were designed and marketed.
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Self-publishing does not mean that Courtney Milan is solely responsible for every detail of the publication of her novels.
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Courtney Milan blogged about multiple instances of sentences or paragraphs from her book that appeared in Serruya's novel.
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Courtney Milan shared details of her experiences working for Judge Kozinski, when he was still the Chief Judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, with The Washington Post.
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Courtney Milan was one of only two women to allow her real name to be used; as she was no longer practicing law, she did not fear the loss of her job.
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Courtney Milan was elected to the Romance Writers of America board of directors for multiple terms and served four years.
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Courtney Milan encouraged other authors of color to join the board and publicly pressed a publisher for answers as to why they had never signed a non-white romance author.
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Courtney Milan reviewed a book written by Tisdale's other acquiring editor, Kathryn Lynn Davis, calling its depiction of a half-Chinese heroine racist.
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Tisdale and Davis filed ethics complaints with the RWA against Courtney Milan, who was at the time the chair of the RWA's Ethics committee.
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On request, Courtney Milan resigned as chair of the Ethics committee to avoid any conflicts of interest.