Sarah Dessen

Last updated
Sarah Dessen
Sarah Dessen 2017.jpg
Dessen at the 2017 Texas Book Festival
BornSarah Dessen
(1970-06-06) June 6, 1970 (age 54)
Evanston, Illinois, U.S.
OccupationNovelist
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Period1996–present
Genre Realistic fiction
Subject Young adult literature
Children1
Website
www.sarahdessen.com

Sarah Dessen (born June 6, 1970) is an American novelist who lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Born in Illinois, Dessen graduated from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Her first book, That Summer, was published in 1996. She has since published more than a dozen other novels and novellas. In 2017, Dessen won the Margaret Edwards Award for some of her work. Two of her books were adapted into the 2003 film How to Deal .

Contents

Early life, education and personal life

Dessen was born in Evanston, Illinois, on June 6, 1970, to Alan and Cynthia Dessen, who were both professors at the University of North Carolina, teaching Shakespearean literature and classics. [1]

As a teenager, Dessen was very shy and quiet. She became involved with a 21-year-old when she was 15 but cut all contact with him shortly after. In a piece penned for Seventeen, Dessen wrote "for many years afterward, I took total blame for everything that happened between me and T. After all, I was a bad kid. I did drugs, I lied to my mom. You can't just hang out with a guy and not expect him to get ideas, I told myself. You should have known better. But maybe he should have. When I turned 21, I remember making a point, regularly, to look at teens and ask myself whether I'd want to hang out with them, much less date one. The answer was always a flat, immediate no. They were kids. I was an adult. End of story." [2]

Dessen attended Greensboro College in Greensboro, North Carolina, but dropped out before the end of the first semester. Upon moving back home she enrolled at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, to take classes in creative writing, resulting in her graduating with highest honors in 1993. [1]

Today Dessen lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with her husband Jay and daughter Sasha Clementine.

Career

Dessen waitressed at the Flying Burrito restaurant in Chapel Hill and was Lee Smith's assistant while launching her writing career. [3] It was Smith who passed one of Dessen's manuscripts to an agent. [4] After the 1996 publication of her first book, That Summer , Dessen continued working at the restaurant. [5] Following the publication of Dreamland , Dessen taught at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill. [6] [7] She became a full-time writer before the 2006 release of Just Listen .

Dessen's Along for the Ride made the New York Times Best Sellers List in 2009. [8] After its publication, Dessen was referred to as a "best-seller machine". [9]

Awards and honors

Some of her novels have been among the ALA's "Best Fiction for Young Adults" selections: That Summer (1997), Someone Like You (1999), Keeping the Moon (2000), Dreamland (2001), This Lullaby (2003), Just Listen (2007), and Along for the Ride (2010). [10] Someone Like You was also one of the two winners of the 1999 "School Library Journal Best Book" award, and Keeping the Moon was the sole winner the next year. [11]

In 2017, Dessen was awarded the Margaret A. Edwards Award for her novels Dreamland (2001), Keeping the Moon (2000), Just Listen (2007), The Truth About Forever (2004), Along for the Ride (2010), What Happened to Goodbye (2011), and This Lullaby (2002). [12]

Common Read controversy

In November 2019, an Aberdeen News article quoted a comment from 2016 by a Northern State University alumna regarding the University's 'Common Read' program, which identifies books "representing diverse points of view" for undergraduate students to read as part of their curriculum. [13] The student, Brooke Nelson, said she became involved with the program "simply so I could stop them from ever choosing Sarah Dessen." Regarding Dessen's book, Nelson stated, "She’s fine for teen girls, but definitely not up to the level of Common Read." [14]

Dessen posted parts of this interview that were critical of her on Twitter, redacting Nelson's name and the institution but stating that the comments were "mean and cruel”. [15] Her post was supported by a number of authors, including Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Weiner, Siobhan Vivian, Roxane Gay, and N. K. Jemisin. [13] [16] [17] Following this, Northern State University issued an apology for the alumna's comments. [18]

Dessen subsequently deleted her tweet and apologized for her remarks, acknowledging that it had resulted in her fans connecting her comments with their source to identify and harass Nelson that led to the former student deleting her social media accounts. [19] Dessen stated, "With a platform and a following, I have a responsibility to be aware of what I put out there." [20] Several of the other authors who had supported Dessen initially also apologized to Nelson, noting that they had supported Dessen’s expression of her feelings but did not support the subsequent identification and bullying of Nelson. [21] [13]

Themes and writing style

In 2017, Dessen was interviewed by Anna Gragert. During the interview, Gragert asked Dessen about the style she uses in some of her books, otherwise known as "effortless perfection". Dessen describes this term as the young girls in her books being able to have friends, look good, be a good student and have one's life together, and to make it look easy. At the start of the book, the reader is supposed to relate with the main characters and throughout their changes in the book, the reader should see that it is okay to not have everything together and not be perfect. Gragert asked Dessen about her anxiety coping mechanisms because writing tends to cause an author to be anxious. Dessen said that she likes to exercise and read in her free time because all writers are going to be anxious, it's part of the process, but it also opens their mind more because they see the world differently than readers. [22]

Bibliography

Film adaptations

The 2003 romantic comedy-drama film How to Deal starring Mandy Moore, Allison Janney, Dylan Baker, Peter Gallagher and Trent Ford was based on both That Summer and Someone Like You . [23]

On May 30, 2019, it was announced that Netflix had purchased the rights to adapt three of Dessen's books into films: This Lullaby, Along for the Ride, and Once and for All. [24] In June 2021, it was announced The Truth About Forever was added to the Dessen books obtained by Netflix to be adapted into a feature film. [25] Along for the Ride was released on May 6, 2022. [26] In July 2023, Dessen shared on her Substack that Netflix was no longer moving forward with other adaptations. [27]

Related Research Articles

<i>The Truth About Forever</i> 2004 novel by Sarah Dessen

The Truth About Forever is a novel by Sarah Dessen. It's her sixth novel and was published in hardcover on May 11, 2004, and in paperback on April 6, 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jodi Picoult</span> American author

Jodi Lynn Picoult is an American writer. Picoult has published 28 novels and short stories, and has also written several issues of Wonder Woman. Approximately 40 million copies of her books are in print worldwide and have been translated into 34 languages. In 2003, she was awarded the New England Bookseller Award for fiction.

Jennifer Weiner is an American writer, television producer, and journalist. She is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her debut novel, published in 2001, was Good in Bed. Her novel In Her Shoes (2002) was made into a movie starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, and Shirley MacLaine.

Rebecca Soler is an American voice actress based in the New York City area. She has voiced on several audiobooks; her most notable voice work has been the narrator for The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer. In anime, she voiced title character Miu Nomura in Piano: The Melody of a Young Girl's Heart, Reanne in Ojamajo Doremi and Battia in Outlanders. In animation, she voiced in Huntik, Viva Piñata, and Winx Club. She has worked with 4Kids Entertainment, NYAV Post, Media Blasters, Central Park Media and DuArt Film & Video. On stage, she has participated in various theater projects, including a play called Becoming Cuba. She is also a producer of a web series called With Friends Like These.

<i>This Lullaby</i> 2002 novel by Sarah Dessen

This Lullaby (2002) is a young adult novel written by Sarah Dessen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lauren Myracle</span> American young adult novelist

Lauren Myracle is an American writer of young adult fiction. She has written many novels, including the three best-selling "IM" books, ttyl, ttfn and l8r, g8r. Her book Thirteen Plus One was released May 4, 2010.

<i>Lock and Key</i> (novel) Book by Sarah Dessen

Lock and Key is a novel written by author Sarah Dessen. It is her eighth published novel. It was published by Viking's Children's Books in 2008.

<i>Keeping the Moon</i> 1999 novel by Sarah Dessen

Keeping the Moon is a young adult novel by author Sarah Dessen. It is her third novel and was first published in 1999.

<i>Along for the Ride</i> (novel) 2009 novel by American author Sarah Dessen

Along for the Ride is a novel by Sarah Dessen. It was released on June 16, 2009. The novel focuses on Auden West, who never sleeps at night due to her parents' continuous fighting when she was in high school. Before heading off to college, Auden decides to spend her summer before college with her father, his wife and their new baby. Although Auden is at first reluctant, she comes to really like her stepmother and half-sister. Auden also ends up spending her nights making up for her lost childhood with Eli, a loner and insomniac with an intriguing past. She learns that second chances are possible and questions if people can truly change.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy Hill Hearth</span> American journalist and author (born 1958)

Amy Hill Hearth is an American journalist and author who focuses on uniquely American stories and perspectives from the past. She is the author or co-author of eleven books, beginning in 1993 with the oral history Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years, a New York Times bestseller for 117 weeks, according to its archives. The book was adapted for Broadway in 1995 and for a film in 1999.

<i>What Happened to Goodbye</i> 2011 novel by Sarah Dessen

What Happened to Goodbye is a young adult novel by Sarah Dessen. The book chronicles the life of a teenage girl, Mclean, and her journey of self-discovery. The book was released on May 10, 2011, by Viking. It received mainly positive critical reception.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenny Han</span> American writer (born 1980)

Jenny Han is an An author, screenwriter, executive producer, and showrunner. She is best known for writing The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy, which she adapted into a TV series for Prime Video. She also wrote the To All the Boys trilogy which was adapted into a Netflix film series.

<i>The Moon and More</i> 2013 book by Sarah Dessen

The Moon and More is Sarah Dessen's eleventh book, published in June 2013, and is a young adult novel. The protagonist, Emaline is a Colby native, a small beachside town, and so summer at the beach for her means hard work and a new population of beach goers. During this, her last summer before college, Emaline meets Theo while working for her family's rental business. He's a city boy who's come to Colby as the assistant to a high-strung documentary filmmaker who's in town to profile a reclusive local artist. Emaline knows he's not her type, but she can not help feeling drawn to him. And as their relationship develops, Emaline finds herself questioning her own goals, values, and choices.

Lorraine Heath is an American author of contemporary romance, historical romance, paranormal romance and young adult novels under multiple pen names, including Rachel Hawthorne, J.A. London, and Jade Parker. She is known for her "beautiful, deeply emotional romances" and in 1997, she received the Romance Writers of America RITA Award for Best Short Historical Romance for her novel Always to Remember. As of June 2015, fifteen of her titles made the USA Today bestseller list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siobhan Vivian</span> American novelist (born 1979)

Siobhan Vivian is a bestselling American novelist, editor, and screenwriter.

Huntley Fitzpatrick was an American author of young adult (YA) fiction.

<i>Once and for All</i> (novel) 2017 novel by Sarah Dessen

Once and for All is the fourteenth novel by Sarah Dessen. It was published in hardcover on June 6, 2017 and in paperback on May 22, 2018. According to Dessen's website, she was worried she no longer had anything to say after her novel Saint Anything was released in 2015. Surrounded by two people planning weddings and their desire for "wanting things to go perfectly," she felt something needed to be said about the amount of things in our lives we want to go "perfect". And so, Once and for All was written.

<i>The Rest of the Story</i> (novel) 2019 novel by Sarah Dessen

The Rest of the Story is a novel by Sarah Dessen. It was released on June 4, 2019. The novel focuses on Emma Saylor Payne, and her summer with her mother's family, after her summer plans are canceled and her father scrambles to find a solution before he leaves the country. As her only option, she spends the summer with her maternal grandmother, whom she last saw years earlier at her mother's funeral. Over the summer she reconnects with relatives and friends she hadn't seen in years, and learns more about her past and connects the idea of her mother with the truth.

<i>Along for the Ride</i> (film) 2022 American film by Sofia Alvarez

Along for the Ride is a 2022 American romantic drama film written and directed by Sofia Alvarez, based on the novel of the same name by Sarah Dessen. The film stars Emma Pasarow, Belmont Cameli, Kate Bosworth, Laura Kariuki, Andie MacDowell and Dermot Mulroney. The film was released on May 6, 2022, by Netflix.

Tracy Deonn is an American author. Her debut novel Legendborn (2020) was a New York Times bestseller and received a Coretta Scott King–John Steptoe Award for New Talent and the 2021 Ignyte Award for Best Young Adult Novel. The sequel novel Bloodmarked was published in 2022 and also became a #1 New York Times bestseller.

References

  1. 1 2 "Sarah Dessen | Biography, Books and Facts". www.famousauthors.org. Retrieved 2018-04-03.
  2. ↑ "I Thought Dating An Older Guy Was Cool — Until I Sensed That Something Was Very Wrong". 5 May 2015.
  3. ↑ "Sarah Dessen Biography". www.oocities.org.
  4. ↑ "Beloved Chapel Hill Author Sarah Dessen Takes a Look Back". www.indyweek.com.
  5. ↑ "Sarah Dessen | Biography, Books and Facts". www.famousauthors.org. Retrieved 2018-04-02.
  6. ↑ "Abandoning. And listening".
  7. ↑ "This Lullaby – Sarah Dessen". sarahdessen.com.
  8. ↑ "Best Sellers: Children's Paperback Books: Sunday, June 5th 2011" . Retrieved 2018-04-28.
  9. ↑ Schwartz, John (2009-08-13). "Novels for Teenagers by Sarah Dessen and Don Calame". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2018-04-03.
  10. ↑ "Best Fiction for Young Adults - Awards & Grants". www.ala.org.
  11. ↑ "School Library Journal Best Book of the Year - Book awards - LibraryThing". www.librarything.com.
  12. ↑ SKUENN (27 February 2012). "Edwards Award".
  13. 1 2 3 Shapiro, Lila (2019-11-16). "Famous Authors Drag Student in Surreal YA Twitter Controversy". Vulture. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  14. ↑ Katherine Grandstrand. "Common Read hits 10 years at Northern". AberdeenNews.com. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  15. ↑ Graham, Ruth (2019-11-15). "The 2017 College Grad Who Got Attacked by a Horde of YA Authors Had No Idea What She Was Getting Into". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  16. ↑ Shepherd, Katie (2019-11-15). "A student opposed a YA novel for mandatory college reading. The backlash from famous authors was fierce". Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
  17. ↑ Alford, Emily (2019-11-14). "The Strawman of the Teenage Girl". Jezebel.com. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
  18. ↑ "Northern State University apologizes to Sarah Dessen for alumna's comments". Argusleader.com. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
  19. ↑ Graham, Ruth (2019-11-15). "The 2017 College Grad Who Got Attacked by a Horde of YA Authors Had No Idea What She Was Getting Into". Slate. Retrieved 2019-11-15.
  20. ↑ Dessen, Sarah (16 November 2019). "Tweet". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  21. ↑ "Sarah Dessen Is Sorry". Jezebel. 15 November 2019. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  22. ↑ "I interviewed author Sarah Dessen, the woman who made me want to read and write". HelloGiggles. Retrieved 2018-04-18.
  23. ↑ "The Sarah Dessen Interview". Archived from the original on 2013-04-16.
  24. ↑ "Netflix Options Sarah Dessen YA Novels, Sets 'Along for the Ride' Adaptation (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. 30 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-31.
  25. ↑ "'To All The Boys' Scribe Sofia Alvarez To Helm 'Along For The Ride' Adaptation For Netflix; Kate Bosworth, Andie MacDowell Among Cast".
  26. ↑ "Netflix Tudum".
  27. ↑ "The Friday Five!".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.