Talia Hibbert (born 1995/1996) is a British romance novelist. She writes

contemporary Contemporary history, in English-language historiography, is a subset of modern history that describes the historical period from about 1945 to the present. In the social sciences, contemporary history is also continuous with, and related t ...

and

paranormal romance Paranormal romance is a subgenre of both romantic fiction and speculative fiction. Paranormal romance focuses on romantic love and includes elements beyond the range of scientific explanation, from the speculative fiction genres of fantasy, scien ...

. Critics describe her as a writer of diverse narratives, with characters of varying race, ethnicity, body shape, sexual orientation, and life experience. She is best known for her 2019 novel '' Get a Life, Chloe Brown''.

Early life and education

Hibbert was born to a half Roma, half Sierra Leonean mother and a father of Jamaican heritage, whose parents arrived in Britain as part of the

Windrush generation British African-Caribbean people or British Afro-Caribbean people are an ethnic group in the United Kingdom. They are British citizens or residents of recent Caribbean heritage who further trace much of their ancestry to West and Central Africa. ...

. Hibbert studied at the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

. It was during her final year at university that she decided to pursue writing professionally.

Career

During her childhood, Hibbert dealt with negative comments about her dream to be a writer. She used an inheritance from her great-grandmother to finance the beginning of her writing career. She writes under the name Talia Hibbert as "my legal name is apparently difficult to pronounce". She began self-publishing in 2017, putting out ten books in that first year. Her first traditionally published book '' Get a Life, Chloe Brown'' was released in 2019 with Avon Romance, and is the first book of a family romance trilogy. Her debut fantasy romance, ''The Last Thorn'', will be published in spring 2026.

Themes

Many of Hibbert's characters fall under the

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...

#OwnVoices, meaning they are part of a marginalized group Hibbert identifies with. Many of her protagonists are black women. The main character in ''Get a Life, Chloe Brown'' lives with

chronic pain Chronic pain is pain that persists or recurs for longer than 3 months.https://icd.who.int/browse/2025-01/mms/en#1581976053 It is also known as gradual burning pain, electrical pain, throbbing pain, and nauseating pain. This type of pain is in cont ...

. In her book ''A Girl Like Her'', the main character, Ruth, is

autistic Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

. The third book in ''The Brown Sisters'' series, ''Act Your Age, Eve Brown'', features two autistic leads. Hibbert's stories include characters with a diverse range of body types. She has stated, "...it's always been really, really important to me that I represent diverse body types in my romance to show that all different kinds of people can be attractive and all different kinds of people deserve happy endings." In Hibbert's book ''Get a Life, Chloe Brown'', she demonstrates the strain that chronic pain can place on both familial and romantic relationships. But, as a romance novel, ''Get a Life, Chloe Brown'' also shows how someone with chronic pain is deserving and capable of having a loving relationship. The book explores methods of reasserting a sense of control within a life that was once ruled by illness. Hibbert's books reflect a change in the romance genre toward explicit consent during intimate scenes. In the author's

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

romance ''Work For It'', one of the protagonists deals with finding love even while living with depression.

Personal life

For much of her life, Hibbert struggled with undiagnosed health issues, until she was diagnosed with

fibromyalgia Fibromyalgia (FM) is a functional somatic syndrome with symptoms of widespread chronic pain, accompanied by fatigue, sleep disturbance including awakening unrefreshed, and Cognitive deficit, cognitive symptoms. Other symptoms can include he ...

. Hibbert's multiple issues with doctors inspired the topic of medical discrimination in ''Get a Life, Chloe Brown''. Hibbert is queer and

Bibliography

Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hibbert, Talia 21st-century English novelists 21st-century English women writers Alumni of the University of Leicester Black British women writers Black British writers English people of Jamaican descent English people of Sierra Leonean descent English Romani people Living people People with fibromyalgia Year of birth missing (living people) English women novelists English romantic fiction writers British women romantic fiction writers Autistic writers British writers with disabilities LGBTQ writers with disabilities Autistic LGBTQ people British autistic people