On the 31st of December 31, 1965, Nicholas Sparks was born to parents Jill Thoene and Patrick Sparks. While Sparks’ love and connection for writing began at a very young age, Sparks would not write his first novel until he attended college in his mid-20s. While attending the University of Notre Dame, Sparks wrote a few novels that went unpublished, which fell into the genres of horror and mystery.

However, he soon saw success and his first official publication when he wrote his novel, “The Notebook”, earning him success and recognition. After the overwhelming success of “The Notebook,” Sparks soon discovered his passion for writing novels of the romantic genre, before leaving his day job to start writing full-time.

Since his smashing success of “The Notebook,” Sparks has gone on to write more classic and well-known novels, such as “Dear John”, “A Walk to Remember”, and “The Longest Ride”.  And Sparks is still delivering literary works, just recently with M. Night Shyamalan in the novel “Remain” released in late 2025.