Sad news from New Zealand this evening: at the RWA New Zealand Conference, Harlequin Desire author Sandra Hyatt took ill very suddenly at the conference and passed away Sunday afternoon, New Zealand time.
Most poignantly, her most recent tweet was about her intention to pick up Random House’s Sue Grimshaw from the airport for the RWA New Zealand conference. Sue tweeted a beautiful picture of the two of them a short time later:
My condolences to her family and her friends all over the world. May her memory be a blessing.
I’m so sorry to hear this—she was a Desire author with amazing promise, and heck, amazing results so far. I liked her personally and will miss her.
So sorry to hear this. I had just picked up one of her books at the store. My sympathies to her family and friends.
Oh my goodness. What sad news this is. I’m so sorry. My thoughts and prayers go to her family and friends.
I’m sorry to hear this – my thoughts go out to her family and friends.
I’m so sorry to hear this. My deepest sympathies go out to her family and friends.
how auwful.. my condolenses to her family and friends. May she rest in peace.
She wrote such wonderfully warm books that I always looked forward to reading the next one. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family.
effects93 – definitely one way to describe her impact on the larger community.
Oh how awful! My deepest condolences to her family and friends. What a terrible thing.
How terribly shocking and sad. My sincere condolences to her family and friends.
How very sad.
I’m still in shock. We were Golden Heart finalists together. She showed me around NZ when I was there a few years back, and took me to all the cool little book stores. I just can’t seem to grasp that she won’t be in Anahiem next year…her poor family. RIP, Sandy-baby, gonna miss your smile and laugh.
Oh how sad! She looks so young too.
OMG … My sincere condolences to her friends and family.
Sandra was a member of my RWNZ Auckland chapter, and a wonderful friend. She was truly lovely lady with the most gorgeous corkscrew curls and a smile that would light up a room. I remember her “call” story when she got picked up as a Desire author—we were all so thrilled for her! None of us could think of anyone who deserved it more.
We’re all just gutted by her sudden passing. If any of you who’ve met Sandra have any photos of her at a previous RWA conference, please email them to me so I can pass them on to our RWNZ president. We’re putting together an album to give Sandra’s husband and kids and your photos would be welcomed.
On behalf of everyone at RWNZ, thank you for your kind words. Means a lot to us all.
Sandra was an amazing person! I’ve had the pleasure to attending quite a few AUS and NZ conferences and getting to know Sandra and she’s absolutely warm and lovely and the best sort of person to know. I am stunned and devestated. She was a star…and it has nothing to do with her books or talent but her heart!
What a loss. Prayers for her loved ones.
Thank you for the lovely blogpost
Maree *hugs*. and Jane Porter – you are so right, her heart was beautiful.
How very sad to hear.