Nicholas Sparks Biography

The American novelist and screenwriter Nicholas Sparks was born in 1965 in Nebraska. Today, Sparks is best known for his best-selling romantic dramas, many of which have been adapted into top-grossing films, but long before he rose to prominence as a writer, Sparks spent his early childhood years in the Omaha area of the state. As his father’s academic studies continued into graduate courses, Nicholas, his mother, and his siblings moved around a bit to follow him, living for awhile in California and Minnesota.

Eventually, the family settled in the Fair Oaks, California area after Mr. Sparks secured a position teaching at California State University. Nicholas spent his teenage years here, graduating from Bella Vista High School as the school valedictorian in 1984. Sparks then went on to attend the University of Notre Dame, graduating with a degree in business finance in 1988.

During his entire time in high school and college, Nicholas wrote creatively, penning his first unpublished novel when he was a freshman in college. After multiple rejections for his early works, Sparks worked in a number of odd jobs, including waiting tables and selling dental products, before his big breakthrough came in the 1990’s. In 1993, Nicholas Sparks began writing The Notebook, which finally garnered some interest from a literary agent. The novel was published in 1996 and within its first week landed on the New York Times Best Seller list.

The Notebook has been followed by dozens of other highly successful novels and so far eleven film adaptations, all of them commercially successful. Notable works from Sparks include: Message in a Bottle (1999), A Walk to Remember (2002), Nights in Rodanthe (2008), Dear John (2010), The Last Song (2011), The Lucky One (2012), Safe Haven (2013), The Best of Me (2014), and The Longest Ride (2015.)

Nicholas Sparks continues to write novels and film screenplays. His most recent novel, Two by Two, arrived in late 2016, and the film adaptation of his novel The Choice arrived in theaters earlier in the same year.