Nicholas Sparks

Nicholas Sparks, 2006

Nicholas Charles Sparks (born December 31, 1965 in Omaha , Nebraska ) is an American writer .

Life

Sparks' family moved frequently. She moved from Omaha to Minnesota , then to Los Angeles in 1969 , from there to Grand Island (Nebraska) for a year and finally to Fair Oaks , California . After graduating from high school in 1984, he received an athletics scholarship to the University of Notre Dame in Indiana . He holds a university record in the relay race. After completing his bachelor's degree in business finance in 1988, which he graduated with honors, he did not succeed in getting admission to the law degree . Since his first two novels , which he wrote while studying, had been rejected, he got by with various jobs. Among other things, he worked as a real estate agent , renovated houses, worked as a waiter and telephone seller, until he then founded his own small company, which, however, soon struggled with financial difficulties and was sold. Then he worked as a pharmaceutical agent.

The two novels written during his university days remained unpublished. In 1990 he wrote Wokini or The Search for Hidden Happiness with Billy Mills , which was published by a small publisher. In June 1994, Sparks began a novel based on the story of his wife's grandparents, entitled Like a Single Day , which became his first worldwide bestseller . Other novels followed, some of which were made into films.

Sparks was married to Cathy Cote since 1989 and lives in North Carolina , which is where most of his novels are set. The couple separated in January 2015. They have five children: sons Landon, Miles, Ryan and twin girls Lexie and Savannah. Sparks used his children's names for main characters in his books; a book character was also named after his wife.

Sparks' novels vary the motif of "redemption through love": The protagonists escape threats from war or illness or other catastrophes by taking the path to great love. Dramaturgically, Sparks readers move in a safe world; it almost always turns out the way you hope it will. He wrote love stories because his first one was so successful; Adultery, vulgarity, or premarital sex does not occur with Sparks. The novels, as the German journalist Nina Rehfeld sums up, “are just about this side of pure lard ”.

Sparks published seventeen novels by 2013, eight of which were made into films. The film adaptations grossed $ 660 million. His novels were in print in 45 languages ​​with a total print run of eighty million copies.

In 2008, Sparks, a staunch Catholic, founded a Christian school in New Bern , North Carolina , the Epiphany School of Global Studies. He was later sued by the principal of that school for being racist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic.

Works

• together with Billy Mills : Wokini. A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding , 1990 (German Wokini or The Search for Hidden Happiness , 2001, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 3-453-18680-X )
• The Notebook , 1996 (German like a single day , 1996, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 3-453-81015-5 )
• Message in a Bottle , 1998 (German Far like the Sea , 1998, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 3-453-81017-1 )
• A Walk to Remember , 1999 (German Zeit im Wind , 1999, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 3-453-81011-2 )
• The Rescue , 2000 (German Das Schweigen des Glücks , 2000, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 3-453-81023-6 )
• A Bend in the Road , 2001 (German way of dreams , 2001, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 3-453-81003-1 )
• Nights in Rodanthe , 2002 (German The Smile of the Stars , 2003, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 3-453-87337-8 )
• The Guardian , 2003 (German: You are never alone , 2004, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 3-453-81010-4 )
• The Wedding , 2003 (dt. The Wedding , 2004, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 3-453-40187-5 ) - builds in part on The Notebook on
• together with Micah Sparks: Three Weeks With My Brother , 2004 (German Near and Far - The Journey of Our Life , 2005, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 3-453-01218-6 )
• True Believer , 2005 (Eng. The proximity of the sky , 2005, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 3-453-81067-8 )
• At First Sight , 2005 (dt. The miracle of the moment , in 2006, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 3-453-02100-2 ) - is based on the proximity of the sky on
• Dear John , 2006 (German The Shine of Silence , 2007, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 978-3-453-50382-3 )
• The Choice , 2007 (German until the last day , 2008, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 978-3-453-40639-1 )
• The Lucky One , 2008 (German Forever Yours , 2009, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 978-3-453-26553-0 )
• The Last Song , 2009 (German with you by my side , 2010, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 978-3-453-26652-0 )
• Safe Haven , 2010 (German like a light in the night , April 2011, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 978-3-453-26683-4 )
• The Best of Me , 2011 (German: Mein Weg zu dir , April 2012, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 978-3-453-26684-1 )
• The Longest Ride 2013 ( No place without you , November 2013, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 978-3-453-26839-5 )
• See me 2015 ( If you see me , March 2016, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 978-3-453-26876-0 )
• Two by two 2016 ( since you've been with me , March 2017, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 978-3-453-26877-7 )
• Every Breath 2018 (Where we find each other, September 2018, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 978-3453271739 )
• The Return 2020 (when you return, June 2020, Heyne Verlag, Munich, ISBN 978-3-453-27174-6 )

Film adaptations

• 1998: Message in a Bottle - The beginning of a great love (Message in a Bottle) - Directed by Luis Mandoki , with Kevin Costner , Robin Wright , Paul Newman , from the novel far as the sea
• 2002: Nur mit Dir - A Walk to Remember (A Walk to Remember) - with Mandy Moore and Shane West , based on the novel Zeit im Wind
• 2004: Like a Single Day (The Notebook) - with Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling , based on the novel of the same name
• 2008: The Smiles of the Stars (Nights in Rodanthe) - with Richard Gere and Diane Lane , based on the novel of the same name
• 2010: The Shine of Silence (Dear John) - with Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried , based on the novel of the same name
• 2010: With you by my side (The Last Song) - with Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth , based on the novel of the same name
• 2012: The Lucky One - Forever of your (The Lucky One) - with Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling , based on the novel
• 2013: Safe Haven - Like a Light in the Night (Safe Haven) - with Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel , based on the novel of the same name
• 2014: The Best of Me - Mein Weg zu dir - with James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan , based on the novel of the same name
• 2015: No Place Without You (The Longest Ride) - with Scott Eastwood and Britt Robertson , based on the novel of the same name
• 2016: The Choice - Until the last day (The Choice) - with Teresa Palmer and Benjamin Walker , from the novel Until the last day

Web links

• Literature by and about Nicholas Sparks in the catalog of the German National Library
• Nicholas Sparks in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Official English language website
• Official German language publisher website
• Interview with Nicholas Sparks
• Interview on kultur-base.de from May 2, 2012

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Nicholas Sparks Biography. In: bookbrowse.com. Retrieved January 19, 2011 . 
2. ↑ http://www.people.com/article/nicholas-sparks-wife-cathy-separate
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Nina Rehfeld: With him you are always in a safe haven . Interview, in: FAS , February 24, 2013, p. 60
4. ↑ Sparks: "I want to get into number one". In: DiePresse.com. March 4, 2016, accessed January 16, 2018 . 
5. ↑ Sparks homepage , accessed September 20, 2014
6. ↑ Amanda Holpuch: Lawsuit accuses Nicholas Sparks of racism, antisemitism and homophobia . In: The Guardian . October 2, 2014, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed August 26, 2017]).