Nicholas Sparks

Nicholas Charles Sparks was born on December 31, 1965, in Omaha, Nebraska. His father, Patrick Michael Sparks, was a business professor, and his mother, Jill Emma Marie Sparks, was an optometrist’s assistant. Sparks is the middle of three children, with an older brother, Michael Earl ‘Micah’ Sparks, and a younger sister, Danielle ‘Dana’ Sparks Lewis. His sister’s passing at age 33 from a brain tumor inspired his novel ‘A Walk to Remember’. As a child, Sparks lived in various locations before his family settled in Fair Oaks, California, in 1974. He graduated valedictorian from Bella Vista High School in 1984. He attended the University of Notre Dame on a track and field scholarship, majoring in business finance and graduating magna cum laude. He penned two unpublished novels, ‘The Passing’ in 1985 and ‘The Royal Murders’ in 1989. In 1989, he married Cathy Cote and relocated to New Bern, North Carolina.

Sparks’ first published work was ‘Wokini: A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding’ in 1990, a nonfiction book co-authored with Billy Mills, which sold 50,000 copies in its initial year. His breakthrough arrived in 1995 when literary agent Theresa Park secured a $1 million advance for ‘The Notebook’ from Time Warner Book Group. This novel, published in October 1996, quickly became a New York Times bestseller, remaining on the list for fifty-six weeks. Following this success, ‘Message in a Bottle’ was published in 1998 and became the first of his novels to be adapted into a film in 1999. To date, 11 of his novels have been adapted into feature films, including ‘The Notebook’ (2004), ‘A Walk to Remember’ (2002), and ‘Dear John’ (2010). He has also sold screenplay adaptations for ‘True Believer’ and ‘At First Sight’. His novels have cumulatively sold over 115 million copies globally and have been translated into more than 50 languages.

Sparks is recognized for his consistent presence on the Forbes annual highest-paid authors lists. Throughout his career, 15 of his novels have achieved No. 1 New York Times Bestseller status, and all his novels have been both New York Times and international bestsellers. In recent years, he has continued his prolific output, publishing ‘The Return’ in 2020, ‘The Wish’ in 2021, and ‘Dreamland’ in 2022, all of which were optioned for film adaptations. Sparks is also actively involved in philanthropy, having donated nearly $900,000 to New Bern High School in 2008 for an all-weather tartan track and volunteering as a coach. The same year, he contributed close to $10 million to establish The Epiphany School of Global Studies. In 2012, he founded The Nicholas Sparks Foundation, a nonprofit supporting global education experiences for students, which has contributed over $15 million to charities, scholarship programs, and other initiatives. He resides in New Bern, North Carolina.