Karen Kingsbury
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Karen Kingsbury is a bestselling American author of inspirational fiction[1].
She was born to Theodore and Anne Kingsbury on July 17 in Fairfax, Virginia.[citation needed][2] She was married to Donald on July 23, 1988, and has six children: Kelsey, Tyler, Austin, E. J., Sean, and Josh. Karen and Donald adopted EJ, Sean, and Josh from Haiti in 2001[3]. Karen and her family live in the Vancouver, Washington[4] area, near Salmon Creek, Washington[5].
In 1986 she received her B.A. in Journalism from California State University, Northridge.
As a child of 5 or 6, she already loved writing, and knew she wanted to become a novelist by her teens. She didn't start writing novels until Where Yesterday Lives (1998). And then after reading a book by Francine Rivers, she felt called to write Christian fiction[3].
She was a writer for the Los Angeles Times as a sports author. Later, she wrote for Los Angeles Daily News, also starting in the sports area and then moving to writing features. During this time, had an article published in People Magazine which prompted an agent to contact her with an offer to write a book[6].
She has written more than 30 novels and has nearly 6 million copies of her novels in print. She has made both the USA Today and the New York Times Bestseller Lists. Her recent books are trademarked as Life-Changing Fiction with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. She regularly writes about recent social happenings, including the September 11, 2001 attacks. She's mentioned writing at least 10,000 words per day, and with Ever After, it was 25,000 words a day.[3].
In 2008, Karen plans to speak at 11 conferences for the Extraordinary Women group[5][7].
Contents
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[edit] Awards won
- Oceans Apart: 2005 Gold Medallion Book Award - Fiction [8]
- Ever After: 2007 Book of the Year Award from ECPA[9] Note: This was the first fiction title to win the award and the first time the prize was awarded to a female author.[3]
[edit] Movies
Karen Kingsbury has several movie deals upcoming.
- Gideon's Gift is in process with Christian Slater and Elle Fanning in the cast.
- A Thousand Tomorrows
- Like Dandelion Dust
[edit] Books by Karen Kingsbury
[edit] Forever Faithful series
Published by Multnomah.
- Waiting for Morning, 1999
- A Moment of Weakness, 2000
- Halfway to Forever, 2002
[edit] Women of Faith series
Published by WestBow Press.
- A Time to Dance, 2001
- A Time to Embrace, 2002
[edit] Redemption series
The first series featuring the Baxter family. Written with Gary Smalley. Published by Tyndale House Publishers.
- Redemption, 2002
- Remember, 2003
- Return, 2003
- Rejoice, 2004
- Reunion, 2004
[edit] Red Gloves collection
A collection of standalone books (it's not necessary to read in order), each with 12 chapters suitable for reading over the 12 days of Christmas. Published by FaithWords.
- Gideon's Gift, 2002
- Maggie's Miracle, 2003
- Sarah's Song, 2004
- Hannah's Hope, 2005
[edit] September 11th series
Published by Zondervan.
- One Tuesday Morning, 2003
- Beyond Tuesday Morning, 2005
[edit] Firstborn series
The second series featuring the Baxter family. Published by Tyndale House Publishers.
- Fame, 2005
- Forgiven, 2005
- Found, 2006
- Family, 2006
- Forever, 2007
[edit] Lost Love series
Published by Zondervan.
- Even Now, 2005
- Ever After, 2007
[edit] Cody Gunner series
- A Thousand Tomorrows, 2005
- Just Beyond the Clouds, 2007
[edit] Sunrise series
The third series featuring the Baxter family. Published by Tyndale House Publishers.
- Sunrise, 2007
- Summer, 2007
- Someday, 2008
- Sunset, coming September 2008
[edit] Standalone books
- Where Yesterday Lives, 1998
- When Joy Came to Stay, 2000
- On Every Side, 2001
- Oceans Apart, 2004
- Divine, 2006. Published by Tyndale House Publishers.
- Like Dandelion Dust, 2006
- Between Sundays, 2007. Published by Zondervan.
- This side of Heaven, coming July 2008
[edit] Non-fiction
[edit] Miracle Books collection
Based on real life events.
- A Treasury of Christmas Miracles, 2001
- A Treasury of Miracles for Women, 2002
- A Treasury of Miracles for Friends, 2004
- A Treasury of Adoption Miracles, 2005
- A Treasury of Miracles for Teens
[edit] Gift Books
- Forever Young, 2005
- Be Safe Little Boy, 2006
- Stay Close Little Girl, 2006
[edit] Children's Books
- Let Me Hold You a Little Longer, 2004
- Let's Go on a Mommy Date, coming in 2008
[edit] References
- ^ Tyndale House Publishers: Karen Kingsbury Author Biography
- ^ The Library of Congress name authority file gives her fate of birth as June 8, 1963
- ^ a b c d Chris Glazier for Borders Christian Book Reader, January/February 2008 issue.
- ^ Mike Bailey, staff writer for The Columbian, July 23 2007. The Columbian: Bits'n' Pieces
- ^ a b Mike Bailey, staff writer for The Columbian, February 5 2008. The Columbian: Arts & Living feature
- ^ KarenKingsbury.com's faq page
- ^ Extraordinary Women site
- ^ 2005 Christian Book Awards Winners – Fiction category
- ^ ECPA Press Release - July 9, 2007.