Carolyn Ione McKnight Nichols, author, editor and publisher, died on October 21. She was 78.
From 1974 through 1979, Nichols wrote books, mostly Regency romance and historical fiction, including Gravetide, The Reluctant Lady and Draw a Dark Circle, under the pseudonyms Iona Charles and Carolyn McKnight.
After she began editing books for collaborators and friends, Nichols became an editor and publisher in New York, working at Berkeley/Jove, Bantam Books, Ballantine and the New American Library. In 2001, she retired as v-p and executive director, editorial, at New American Library.
During her publishing career, Nichols was founding editor of two romance lines, Second Chance at Love for Berkley/Jove and Loveswept for Bantam Books, and worked with authors such as Iris Johansen, Kay Hooper, Sandra Brown, Tami Hoag, Janet Evanovich, Mary Kay McComas, Kristin Hannah and Carla Neggers.
She also commissioned and published nonfiction, such as Todd Gitlin's The Sixties and the first mass-market paperback editions of Ernest Shackleton's memoirs of his Antarctic expeditions, and books on the Blair Witch Project and the Sopranos. She worked with pop stars such as Britney Spears and Nick and Aaron Carter, too.
In addition, Nichols was active in Democratic Party politics, worked in government, was a writer and producer at WETA in the early years of public television, and was an actor and model.
