Nicholas Sparks (author)

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Nicholas Sparks

Nicholas Sparks (b. December 31, 1965) is an internationally bestselling American author. He writes novels with themes that include Christianity, love, tragedy and fate. He is currently author of twelve published novels and lives in New Bern, North Carolina, with his wife Catherine and their five children. His novels tend to be romantic stories where the main characters usually don't experience a typical happy ending.

1 Personal
2 Writing
3 List of Published Works
4 External links
5 Notes

[edit] Personal

Sparks was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Patrick Michael Sparks, a professor, and Emma Marie (née Thoene) Sparks, a homemaker and an optometrist’s assistant. He has one living sibling, brother Michael (Micah) Earl Sparks (1964 - ) and a deceased sister Danielle (Dana) Sparks (1966 - 2000).

Because his father was pursuing graduate studies when Nicholas was a young child, Sparks lived in Minnesota, Los Angeles, and Grand Island, Nebraska, all before the age of eight. In 1974 his family eventually settled in Fair Oaks, California and remained there through Sparks's high school career. He graduated in 1984 as valedictorian from Bella Vista High School and went straight on to college, having received a full track and field scholarship from the University of Notre Dame. As a first year student in 1985, Sparks's relay team set a still-standing school record for the 4 x 800 meter relay. He majored in Business Finance and graduated with high honors in 1988.

Sparks met his wife Catherine (from New Hampshire) during spring break in 1988. They married in July 1989 and lived in Sacramento. Having been rejected by both publishers and law schools, Sparks chose to try his hand in various careers over the next three years, i.e. real estate appraisal, waiting tables, selling dental products by phone and starting his own manufacturing business. In 1992 Sparks began selling pharmaceuticals and in 1993 was transferred to New Bern, North Carolina, where he wrote his first published novel The Notebook.^[1]

Sparks and his wife currently reside in New Bern with their three sons Miles, Ryan, and Landon, and their twin daughters Lexie and Savannah. Sparks recently donated a track to New Bern High School and contributes to local and national charities. He also contributes to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame by funding/facilitating/providing (?) scholarships, internships and annual fellowships.

[edit] Writing

In 1985 Sparks penned his first novel The Passing while home for the summer between freshman and sophomore years at Notre Dame. It was never published. In 1989 he wrote his second, also unpublished, novel The Royal Murders. In 1994, over a period of six months, Sparks penned what was to be his first published novel, The Notebook. In October of 1995, rights to The Notebook were sold to Warner Book for $1 million and the novel was published in October 1996.

After his first publishing success, Sparks wrote a string of international bestsellers (See "List of Published Works"), all of which were translated into over thirty-five languages. Three of his novels have been made into feature-length films: Message in a Bottle (1999), A Walk to Remember (2002), and The Notebook (2004). As of March 2006, each movie has grossed a total lifetime amount of:

Message In A Bottle, over $118 million^[2]
A Walk To Remember, over $47 million^[3]
The Notebook, over $115 million^[4]

Nicholas said during an October, 2005 book signing in Greenville, SC, that the next movie to be based on one of his books would be Nights In Rodanthe. They were currently trying to sign an actor to the lead part.

These successes make the novels one of the most profitable franchises in Hollywood. Sparks has also written a currently unsold screenplay for The Guardian. The Maine emo-rock band Sparks the Rescue used the name of his book The Rescue and Nicholas's last name to make the band's name.