Angela Elwell Hunt

Career

Angela Elwell Hunt was born in Winter Haven and grew up in Brevard County, Florida, graduating from Rockledge High School in 1975. She was also one of Brevard County's debutantes in that year. In 1976-77 she traveled with Derric Johnson's "The Re'Generation," a ten-member vocal group. Hunt studied English and music at Liberty University and graduated magna cum laude in 1980. She spent one year teaching high school. In 1983, she began her writing career. In those early years as a freelance writer she wrote everything from business letters to catalog copy. In the late 1980s, she received her first recognition as a writer, winning first place in a national competition with a manuscript and sketches that she and a friend submitted. Her first book was published in 1988.

Hunt has published over one hundred books since then, most of which have a Christian theme. Hunt considers her some of her books to be parables." Her books have touched on such diverse topics as cloning, immortality, prion diseases, breast cancer, mental illness, angels, family issues, spouse abuse, stuttering, adoption, divorce, dating, and man's relationship to animals. Nearly four million copies of her books have been sold worldwide.

Her novel The Note was made into a Hallmark Channel movie with the same name which premiered in December 2007, and two other novels have been optioned for film (Uncharted and The Elevator). Hunt was awarded an Angel Award from Excellence in Media eight times, as well as a 2000 Christy Award (for By Dawn's Early Light). She won the 2006 Romantic Times BookClub Lifetime Achievement Award, and three of her novels have been finalists for a Romance Writers of America RITA Award. She has also been awarded the 2000 Holt Medallion for Inspirational Fiction for The Truth Teller. Her novel "The Face" was listed in Publisher's Weekly "Best Books of the Year" (PW, 11/03/08).

Hunt often speaks and teaches at major writer's conferences, including the Mt. Hermon Christian Writer's Conference, the Florida Christian Writer's Conference, the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writer's Conference, the Colorado Christian Writer's Conference, and the Oregon Christian Writer's Conference. She participates as a founding instructor in the Glen Eyrie Writer's Summit, and has served as keynote speaker at the American Christian Fiction Writers conference, the Christian Writer's Guild Conference, the InScribe Christian Writers' Fellowship conference, the Liberty University Writers' Conference, and the Oregon Christian Writers Conference.

In 2013, Hunt established Angela Hunt Photography and began to develop a second career, indulging her passion for learning and photography. She specializes in portraits and says she owes her interest in this career to her work as a volunteer photographer for shelter animals. She is also a photographer for Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, an organization that provides beautiful, compassionate portraits for families whose infants experience only a brief time on earth.

Personal life

In 2006, Hunt earned a Masters of Biblical Studies degree in Theology. In 2008, she completed her doctorate in the same subject, and in 2015 she completed her Th.D. .

Hunt is married to a Baptist minister, Gary Hunt. They have two children, a daughter, Taryn, and a son, Tyler. She and her family live in Seminole, Florida with mastiffs—in 2001, one of her dogs was featured on Live With Regis and Kelly as the second largest dog in America. Hunt is passionate about her hobby of photographing shelter animals and has written short e-books for others who would like to contribute in the same way, Snapping Shelter Dogs and Snapping Shelter Cats.