Former Oprah Star Returns To Best Seller List

 NEW YORK  -- SmileyBooks has just announced the return of Iyanla Vanzant, author of PEACE FROM BROKEN PIECES: How to Get Through What You're Going Through, to the #1 spot on the New York Times bestsellers list for the week of March 13, 2011.

"We are thrilled that Iyanla's inspiring message has reached so many people. Her mission - to promote family healing - affirms why she remains one of the nation's most beloved teachers," says publisher Tavis Smiley. This marks Vanzant's fifth time on the Times list, and her first with SmileyBooks. She previously spent 20 weeks on the list with In the Meantime.

"Iyanla radically redefines what it means when ‘life falls apart,'" says Michael Bernard Beckwith, New York Times best-selling author of Spiritual Liberation. "This nourishing and healing book teaches the most necessary lesson of all: Trust in the innate wholeness of the human heart and spirit."

Part metaphorical teaching story, part wrenching personal chronicle, Peace from Broken Pieces is a phoenix-rising-from-the-ashes tale about men and money, love and work, mothers and daughters, life and death, and the patterns and pathologies that families pass down through the generations - until someone gets clear enough to break free. Courageous, poignant, and straight from the heart, the unforgettable story of Iyanla's determination to find peace amidst the fragmented pieces of her life will inspire anyone who refuses to be defeated by adversity.

Vanzant is the founder and executive director of Inner Visions International and the Inner Visions Institute for Spiritual Development. The author of 13 titles, she is the former host of the television series Iyanla, and former co-host of the NBC daytime reality show Starting Over. She is a 2010 Black Girls Rock! honoree acknowledged on their national BET special, and she recently joined Oprah for a two-part reunion on the Oprah Winfrey Show. A proud grandmother of eight, she currently resides in Maryland.

Founded by media pioneer Tavis Smiley in 2004, SmileyBooks is a general trade book publisher that specializes in quality nonfiction and is distributed by Hay House, Inc. A dynamic company dedicated to the new media landscape, SmileyBooks publishes books by authors ranging from established New York Times bestsellers to exciting new voices on topics that appeal to a broad spectrum of readers.