tonight a conversation with literary icon jackie collins. her books have sold more than 40 million copies around the world. her latest book "goddess of vengeance," is another installment featuring lucky santangelo. a conversation with jackie collins coming up right now. >> every community has a martin luther king boulevard. it's the cornerstone we all know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis: one of the reasons i love getting out of the studio and travel around the country and for that matter, around the world, i never know what will run into. i am in new york city and having lunch and a look over in the booth next to me and bam, jackie collins is here. now she is on the show because we met at a restaurant. she is one of the biggest and best selling authors in the history of the world. her latest is called "goddess of vengeance." jackie collins, an honor to have you. >> i am so happy to be here. tavis: that timing was good.

4 million books sold off 400 millions books sold. >> that is over a long time. -- 400 million books sold. right now i am very popular in russia. i went over to moscow last year. the signings that i did there, all of the kids that came out or like 20 something. none of the old people came out. it was great, they like to read what is going on without getting the propaganda that you read in the newspapers. tavis: i did not know this about you until i started researching. i assume you are in love with pop culture. pop culture and you treat all the time. the references that you make are so present day. you are very good at situating yourselves and your narratives in a way that they can relate to. >> absolutely, i write all

colors, all sizes, all nationalities, all sexual orientation. if you pick up one of my books, and make sure there's something for everyone. a lot of authors write their own particular world but i see everybody. i would like to say that when i was a kid growing up, i read charles dickens and he criticism a different characters and some a different levels of society. so, i wrote everyone from lucky, who was a strong desire when are around, and gino who came to america last century. he went through vietnam, early las vegas. finally, he has this fabulous daughter, lucky.

tavis: stop. >> i am telling you too much. that is because i am a storyteller. tavis: there is a whole lot in here. i am always fascinated by novelists. i have a great respect for novelists. i have written 15 or 16 books but i have written about real stuff. the challenge for you all is to create stuff. how do you create all of this? >> when kitty kelley wrote the biography of frank sinatra and i had a book out at the time, frank send me a note and it said, jackie, you are writing fact. i saved that. he signed it francis albert. tavis: you do create this stuff.

>> i do create it because i read everything. i am a pop culture john d. and i read everything going on everywhere. i create what is going on in the world today. there is a very bad character named armand jordan. i created him because i crated this fictitious country. a woman was going to be buried up to enact and stoned to death. i was so disgusted that i prayed a villain that came from a fictitious country and having opinions about women. that they were just there for baby making and love making and that was it. they had no respect for them. he comes to america when he is 8 years old. he is brought up in this kind of atmosphere. that is where the inspiration

came from. even today, there are about to lash a woman for being caught driving. tavis: lucky santangelo is not that woman. >> women loved her because she says all the things that they would like to say. she gets away with it. tavis: how much of writing a character like lucky santangelo has to do with your interest to really make a social statement but to do so with a narrative that is entertaining? >> i get so many girls, i have a message for women out there and that is girls can do anything. lucky is the kind that shows that she can. i will not use the language but he says don't use blank or i

will blow your clanking head off. tavis: this is in real life? >> she gave me the strength to escape from that situation. that i had so much strength in his voice. she gives strength to to other women, just not me. people write me and say, i broke up with my boyfriend. what with lucky do? i will go back out there and then be in life. she is like a james bond for women. tavis: how does jackie collins find herself in real life with a uzi in her face? >> i was at a party in beverly hills. i was with one of my best friends, the wife of sidney poitier. she was in the car with me and my husband was in the car with me. i was taking her home and at the

time, they had a house that had a very long driveway. everyone has these codes that you have to kind of dig in and you can never get anyone's in right. i am trying to get it right and this guy -- we see this car go by. we see this guy go by and he turns around. the next thing, to land is screaming to get out of here. the guide appears in my window. he is literally inches from my face. is the next thing, joanne no screaming to get out of here. the guy appears in my window. he had a partner with him. no one is safe. tavis: have you had experiences that have found their way into your books? >> yes, i definitely have.

that was one of the more dangerous. everybody thinks that i made a very glamorous life. i've written 28 books. they are about different aspects of iraq's to riches. in my own life, my first husband was a drug addict. -- they are about different aspects of rags to riches. i can see what drugs can do to people. he eventually killed himself. that was very upsetting. i had a little girl, a little child. my husband who i was married to, he got ill and i had to nurse him through his terminal illness. i had the carjacking in one of my books. i have never faced a terminal illness but i will do because i know it will help people out there who have gone through the same experience. tavis: you were married really

young. before you got married, you got kicked out of school. you talked about all of the young girls who liked to read your work. tell me why you were expelled from school. >> well, i was expelled for various reasons. tavis: [laughter] >> one of them was that i waved at the residence flasher. they thought this was disgusting. then i was trying to all of the time. i had a great imagination. i would tell everyone that i was really american. i would not come to school a lot. tavis: you would create stories even then? >> yes. i had a friend who came to school. she taught me a lot and i would go out of my window every night.

i was a wild child. it made me very street smart. by the time i came to los angeles, i was totally street smart. my parents at reform school or hollywood. i said i think i will take hollywood. i arrived here at 15 and it was fantastic. tavis: i had an older sister. like we don't know who she is. you come here at 15 and you are staying with joan? >> this is a true story. she just went to go to a movie with harry belafonte and she says, here is a list of people who can help the. here are the keys to the apartment. learn to drive. here i was in hollywood by

myself, street smart. i actually wrote about those days because we lived in kind of an apartment like melrose place. everyone was around the pool. they were pumping gas and driving cars. that gave me a great insight. then i wrote the book that put me on the map in america. of course, the one before that was the 10th best selling. tavis: did you ever attempt to do that? did you get pulled into the acting world? >> i did have some things in hollywood. i would do some bikini sheets in the park and and at some kind of cheesy photographer. i would go to get the pictures. the landlady said, i'm sorry, he is not here, he has been arrested. he is a serial killer. crazy things like that would

happen to me. i went back to england after a year. i was in a few movies as a teenager but i always considered myself and out of work writer who was gaining experience. that is what makes a strong woman. you have to have confidence in what you do. tavis: when did you know that this was your location? that riding was really your gift? >> my family kept saying, forget about it, we are in show business family. my father was a theatrical agent. when i was 15 and thrown out of school, i said, that is what i'm going to do. they said, you have to go to college. no one in the family had ever written. forget about it. i was never in courage. when i met my second husband, he said what do you do? by that time, i was in my early 20's. i said, i am a writer.

i said, oh, my gosh, i never unlike 50 books. -- i have written like 50 books. i had at the manuscript which was what he told me to finish. he encouraged me. he was american. he really encouraged me and was the first person who said, you can do it. i did it. i finished the book. within two weeks, someone said this is the most shocking book i have ever read and it was number 1 within two weeks. that was a cool fact. tavis: i want to go back to some of the things. >> i talked too much, don't die? tavis: know, this is my dream. this is a talk show. how old were you when you got married? >> i was 18 when i married my

first husband. i had been this wild child in hollywood and in london. i had lived in rome, italy, the south of france. i met this guy and he was fantastic. on our second date, he said to pack a toothbrush, i'm going to the south of france. it was all very glamorous but he was a big gambler. today, he would be called manic depressive. he would be having a great time and then he would go into depression. the psychiatrist put him on speed. this is something he could never get over. he would be in and out of psychiatric hospitals. there was no rehabed then. tavis: did the experiences that

you had early on ever threaten to turn you off of marriage? you write so much about relationships, were your own experiences that turned you on or off to those experiences and relationships? >> that is an interesting question. i did all the things that i wanted to do before i got married. you don't look out there and say, i wish i had been -- i wish i had done that. one man came on the sat and he told me, you are a raunchy moralist. that is exactly what i am. my books are very raunchy. -- one man came on the set and he told me, you are a raunchy moralist. i think it is important to remain faithful in a marriage. otherwise, why get married? tavis: what do you make of the

fact that your books become hits in europe first and then in america? >> it is very difficult to have a hit in america without coming and spending time in america. i was living in london and i had three little children. i was very happy there. one day, i woke up and my husband was american, he was from philadelphia. we had this great house, schools, kids. i said, i want america. it is not enough that i go into the johnny carson show. he said, ok, if that is what you want, we will do it. we packed our house and we travelled across america to los angeles. you have to be in the country that you want to be successful in. that is my opinion.

tavis: what happens in your career later on when you can write a story that is universally expected that sells around the world? >> because america is the world. america is number one. i think it is the most wonderful country in the world. when you look at all these people to complain about america, what are they doing? they are reading american books, they are watching american movies. they are listening to beyonce, drake. they are pitching about america but they love everything american. tavis: how important is it to you to discover that all of your characters are american -- to write that all of your characters are american? >> in some of my books i have

various nationalities. there was this girl from the ukraine. i love writing about different countries. tavis: you could not write a book that was successful with all the characters were just american. >> know. that is because that is the world that i live in. tavis: do you ever get the notion that you say that you think you want to be about -- that you want to write about this place and then you pack up your bags and go there? >> yes, that is a great thing about being single. i live my life like that. i live my life like a single guy. tavis: that is funny. >> my father used to have a playboy next to his bed. i would take it and look at it. all these guys had great sound

system, a great car. they have it going on. tavis: this is a somewhat dense novel. do you still write longhand? >> i love every second of it. i have no idea what they're going to do, where they're going to go. every time i sit down and pick up my pen, i have a legal pad. after i write the book, i have it down. this one was over 2000 pages. tavis: how many legal pads? >> i have no idea. i have all lot on the computer. i have twitter, the web site. i love being on the computer. for writing, no. a real writer writes by hand. you probably right on the

computer. tavis: no, i still do it longhand. i cannot write by computer. for me, it feels organic. >> exactly. it doesn't feel processed. a lot of writers map out their story. i don't do that. tavis: you don't do that? >> no, i just go. tavis: in other words, you write like you live. >> a little bit. my books are like life. i don't really wind it up. i could take any of my books out and i can continue the story. lucky will go on forever. she has her handsome son and she

has a half african-american brother. tavis: i have been on planes and hotels and i have seen the elite of our country and the e fleet of our world -- and the elite of our world. >> i love it. i see someone who is reading one of my books and then they put it down. i think, why are they putting it down? they have to put it up again. one of my biggest critics are people who have never read me. a report will be sent to interview me. they will plumped down the book. they will say, that is a really good story. i can hear the note of surprise

in their voice. i know that they were like a jackie collins virgin and all of a sudden they are converted. i get kids reading. they read me at 15. they pick it up and they read it. tavis: i just did a special called "too important to fail." it was especially about the crisis of black boys in our education system. they are being left behind. one thing we went over in the conversations are that these boys a fall out of love or never fall into love with reading around third or fourth grade and the primary reason is that they don't see themselves in the narrative. if you don't see yourself, you don't develop a love of reading. your fans can find themselves sometimes in the narrative.

>> i have a huge african- american audience. 50% to come to my signings are african-american. this is great to me. i crated a family that i based on an early billie holiday because she had such a terrible life. -- i created a family that i based on the early life of billie holiday. then i made her family and she became one of the biggest society women in new york. she has the son who turns out to be lucky's half brother. i have always great people of color because that is the world that i live in. i know that i say that because that is true. many writers have a narrow vision. i am happy that a lot of young people, black and white, start to read this at an early age. tavis: a 400 million books later, there is the evidence. all whole lot of people are reading this.

her name of course is jackie collins. her new novel is called "goddess of vengeance." jackie collins, i have enjoyed this conversation. >> so have lied. tavis: -- so have i. tavis: thank you for watching, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with actress laura dern on her new series "enlightened." >> every community has a martin know. it's not just a street or boulevard, but a place where walmart stands together with your community to make every day better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is

proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] [captioning made possible by kcet public television]

>> this is "bbc world news." >> this is "bbc world news."