Mrs. Hayes is an author and mother of two, who has written children’s picture books, young adult novels and works of nonfiction. She graduated with a degree in English from Arkansas State University while Walker was studying business at ASU as well.
Mrs. Hayes’ first published novel, The Antlers Under the Tree, came out with the help of her husband’s connections in New York City. It received rave reviews across the board and before it ended its run Mrs. Hayes had a second novel, Big Mama’s Ghost, published. Both of these novels were recently reissued as an e-book by the company that originally published them.
In 2014 Mrs. Hayes wrote her first nonfiction book, You Might Even Say It’s A Love Story: Life According to Walker & Friends. This book was released by the co-author’s publishing company and was both a hard copy and in ebook format. Mrs. Hayes has been writing for magazines and newspapers for most of her adult life. She’s done interviews, book reviews, columns and lifestyle pieces. She’s had several of those bylined articles published in national magazines, including The New York Times, Redbook and Good Housekeeping.
Mrs. Hayes also appeared on a show called “Extra” with guest host Kathy Ireland to discuss the second book in Walker and Mark Mallory’s best-selling series, “Walker & Mark Mallory.” This show aired on the Style Network.
EARLY AND PERSONAL LIFE
As a child, Mrs. Hayes had the benefit of being born into a family of writers. Her mother was a former editor who wrote screenplays, her father was a novelist and her brother wrote several bestselling books himself, including The Devil’s Half Acre. Mrs. Hayes is the only one in her family to have written about love and life lessons for children.
Walker and his wife, Laney Beville Hayes, live in Nashville with their two children. Mrs. Hayes is working on a parenting book.The “New York Times” best-selling “Walker & Mallory Mysteries” series (co-written with best friend and author Mark T. Sullivan) topped the USA Today Best-Selling Book list (for all hardcover fiction) in both 2011 and 2012. In addition, the November 25, 2010 issue of “Entertainment Weekly” featured Walker Hayes and Mark T. Sullivan with an article about their first collaboration and how it came about.
EDUCATION
Mrs. Hayes received a degree in English from Arkansas State University and then moved to New York City with her husband. Walker got in touch with his literary agency and was advised to find an agent, which he did – he signed with Donald Maass Literary Agency. He also learned that all of the agents at the firm were inundated with requests and they needed a way to filter out books they didn’t want. So, he created a contest to see who could get the most books sold. The winning author would get an agent. Walker won that contest and was given the chance to read a novel by an unknown – George Saunders.
Laney and Walker in Elementary School- In the first grade, Laney Beville sat in front of Walker Hayes at school. As kids wanted to do, they traded notes. One day Walker left a note for Laney with a drawing of a little boy in the top right hand corner. The little boy was him and he told her he always wanted to go on a date with her when they grew up.
Walker & Mallory-In 2002, Walker Hayes was taking improve classes at the People’s Improv Theater in New York City where Mark T. Sullivan was an actor. Walker and Mark shared a love for their wives and began to talk about their wives. It just sort of happened, one day, Walker called Mark and asked him to listen in on his next conversation with Laney. As it happened, the two talked about how much they loved their wives and how much they wanted more children. A few weeks later, on the phone Walker asked his wife if she’d minded listening in on the conversation he had with Mark.
AWARDS
In 2015 Mrs. Hayes was honored with the UK-based award, The Bookseller Book Club Awards. This is a top honor and the first of its kind in the UK for a non-fiction book authored by an author with under two years of publication. This is one of three awards Mrs. Hayes has received nearly concurrently in 2015 – she also won the Indie Excellence Award from Medallion, a genre award for all things literary.Mrs. Hayes is currently at work on a parenting book that will be released in late 2016 or early 2017.
The Hayes Family 2021
Walker’s hobbies include photography, including portraiture and animal photography. He is a “master of the bow,” and Laney is a “master of the mace.”
Laney’s hobbies include painting and making jewelry out of clay.
Walker has several tattoos. His first tattoo was on his left triceps, but it is no longer there. His current one is on his right forearm, and there are five more planned for the future. Some of Walker’s tattoos have been shown during interviews or in the media. They are:
Walker’s older sister Dawn Michele Hayes-Mallory is a singer/songwriter who has released five albums and toured extensively in the UK from 1998 to 2006. Dawn has also acted in commercials, plays and industrial videos. Walker and Dawn collaborated on a song called “She’s So Beautiful” which is on the “Weeping Willow” album.
Walker’s brother Shannon Marvin Hayes (born April 28, 1979) was a Sergeant First Class in the United States Army. He served with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), and was killed in action during Operation Iraqi Freedom on May 12, 2003. Shannon loved to write poetry and love letters to his wife and Walker’s sister, Dawn.
Walker’s mother, Mary Ellen Hayes, is a full-time writer who has written several screenplays. Those scripts have been placed on the annual Black List of best unproduced screenplays in Hollywood.
Walker’s father, also named Walker Hayes (died November 12, 2007) was a novelist and newspaper columnist at the “Arkansas Gazette”.
Walker’s maternal grandfather, Robert Boden Hayes (died 1978) was a writer and journalist. Two of his uncles were also writers. One was a mystery writer name Raph Hayes and the other a playwright name Phillip Hayes.
Walker’s maternal grandmother, Marjorie Ann Boden Hayes (died 2016) was an editor whose clients included “Reader’s Digest”, “Esquire Magazine” and several others.
CONCLUSION-
As you see, Walker and Laney Beville Hayes are fantastic people! They love writing, they love entertaining kids, they love helping each other with their books and they love the fans. It’s very important to them that they reach as many kids in the world as possible so that children can grow up being aware of the important lessons that life has to offer.
