American writer and novelist Nicholas Sparks was born on December 31, 1965 in Omaha, Nebraska. He was his high school valedictorian (Fair Oaks High School) and went on to the University of Notre Dame on a full track scholarship. During a relay race, Sparks injured himself and spent the summer recovering. That summer, he also wrote his first (unpublished) novel. After graduating and marrying in 1989, Sparks worked at odd jobs and wrote another (unpublished) novel.

In 1994, when he was 28 years old, Sparks began writing The Notebook. It took him about 6 months. It was published by Warner Books in 1996. From there he would write and publish, Message in a Bottle (1998), A Walk to Remember (1999), The Rescue (2000), A Bend in the Road (2001), Nights in Rodanthe (2002), The Guardian (2003), The Wedding (2003), True Believer (2005), At First Sight (a sequel to True Believer) (2005), Dear John (2006), The Choice (2007), The Lucky One (2008), The Last Song (2009), and Safe Haven (2010). All of these fiction novels. Sparks also wrotea non-fiction memoir with brother Micah in 2004, title Three Weeks With My Brother.

Many of Sparks' novels would go on to be adapted for film, such as: Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, Nights in Rodanthe, The Last Song, Dear John, and The Lucky One.