Lynna Banning combines a lifelong love of history and literature into a satisfying career as a writer. Born in Oregon, she has lived in Northern California most of her life. Currently she lives in Felton, near Roaring Camp in the Santa Cruz Mountains, with her two canaries.

Lynna graduated from Watsonville High School, where her father taught English, and from Scripps College in Claremont, California, before embarking on her first career as an editor and technical writer for Stanford Research Institute and later for Lockheed. She also taught English and journalism at Santa Cruz High School for a number of years.

An amateur pianist and harpsichordist, Lynna performs on psaltery, harp, and recorders with two medieval music groups and coaches ensembles in her spare time.

Lynna's first novel, Western Rose, based on Oregon family history, was published by Harlequin Historicals in 1996. In 2007, she published her first medieval, Crusader's Lady, set during the Third Crusade,a departure from the Westerns for which she is well known. This was followed by Templar Knight: Forbidden Bride in 2008. She returns to her western roots with Lady Lavender, coming in February 2011. Her complete backlist can be found at her website.

Lynna is the Monterey Bay Chapter's Literary Chair and she heads the Mentoring Program. Email her at Carolynw at cruzio dot com, or visit her website to read more about her and see book excerpts.