ENGLISH
1 March 12, 2006
Dianne Vanessa M. Alejo Year III-4
Nicholas Sparks: A Biography
Nicholas Charles Sparks is one of the best writers of the present time. He is renowned to write outstanding love stories which do not really end up in happy endings. His stories of love, tragedy and fate were actually based on experiences he has encountered or of people he knows.
Sparks was born in Ohaman, Nebraska, on New Year’s Eve, 1965. He was the second son of Patrick, a professor, and Jill, a homemaker, Sparks. His family moved to California when he was 9 years old. Graduating as the valedictorian in high school, he got a full track scholarship to the University of Notre Dame where he majored in Business Finance. He wrote his very first novel, The Passing, the summer after his freshman year when he got injured. Though it was never published, it was still a masterpiece for him since it had an exceptional story.
On March 1988, just before he graduates, he met Cathy in Florida—a love at first sight experience. They got married a year later, when he was 23 yrs old. They had two sons in 1991 and 1993, Miles Andrew and Ryan Cody. He also had another son, Landon, and had twin daughters after—Lexie and Savannah. He considered them as some of the most precious things that ever happened to him.
After writing his second novel, The Royal Murderers, in 1989, he decided to concentrate on another career. He was always rejected by publishers—and now, by the law school as well. He got many short-term jobs and became a pharmaceutical representative in Sacramento. He then transferred to North Carolina where he and his family live until now.
He also wrote a book with Billy Mills, and it was published by Feather Publishing. It sold 50, 000 copies in the first year it was released. When he was 28, he wrote The Notebook and was published in October 1996 by Warner Books. Then it was followed by Message in a Bottle in 1998, A Walk to Remember in 1999, The Rescue in 2000, A Bend in the Road in 2001, Nights in Rodanthe in 2002, The Guardian and The Wedding in 2003, Three Weeks with my Brother in 2004 and True Believer and At First Sight in 2005.
All of his books became best sellers and were translated into nearly 40 languages. Some of his books became movies. Such were Message in a Bottle in 1999, A Walk to Remember in 2002, and The Notebook in 2004. His novels were just some of the most successful franchises in Hollywood—earning about more than $150 M each.
Nicholas Sparks was not just a prolific writer—he is also an avid athlete. He runs daily, lift weights regularly and is a black-belt in Tae Kwon Do. He attends church regularly with his family and is a generous contributor to various local and national charities, and to the Creative Writing Program at the University of Notre Dame.

References:
www.bookbrowse.com/biographies/index.cfm?author_number=310
http://www.nicholassparks.com/ShortBio.html