Sarah Dessen (b. June 6, 1970, in
Evanston, IllinoisEvanston, Illinois is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois directly north of the City of Chicago, east of Skokie, and south of Wilmette, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan. Evanston is concurrently a city...
) is an American writer who lives and teaches in
Chapel HillChapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , the oldest state-supported university in the U.S...
,
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
.
While Dessen was born in
Evanston, IllinoisEvanston, Illinois is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois directly north of the City of Chicago, east of Skokie, and south of Wilmette, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan. Evanston is concurrently a city...
, she was raised in
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
. Both of her parents were professors at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel HillThe University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. The university is the oldest in, and flagship of, the University of North Carolina system...
, which Dessen later attended from 1988 to 1993, graduating with highest honors with a degree in
EnglishEnglish studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
with an emphasis in
creative writingCreative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
. Prior to UNC, Dessen graduated from
Chapel Hill High SchoolChapel Hill High School is a public high school in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It is located close to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill High School is part of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district which contains two other high schools, Carrboro High School and...
in 1988. After college, she continued waiting tables at the Flying Burrito and writing, and she sold her first book,
That SummerThat Summer is Sarah Dessen's first novel, published in 1996.-Plot summary:For fifteen-year-old Haven it is a summer framed by two weddings: her father's to Lorna Queen and her sister Ashley's to dull-as-dishwater Lewis Warsher, a boy Haven can't imagine plucky...
, three years after she graduated.
Sarah Dessen (b. June 6, 1970, in
Evanston, IllinoisEvanston, Illinois is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois directly north of the City of Chicago, east of Skokie, and south of Wilmette, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan. Evanston is concurrently a city...
) is an American writer who lives and teaches in
Chapel HillChapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , the oldest state-supported university in the U.S...
,
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
.
While Dessen was born in
Evanston, IllinoisEvanston, Illinois is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois directly north of the City of Chicago, east of Skokie, and south of Wilmette, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan. Evanston is concurrently a city...
, she was raised in
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
. Both of her parents were professors at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel HillThe University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. The university is the oldest in, and flagship of, the University of North Carolina system...
, which Dessen later attended from 1988 to 1993, graduating with highest honors with a degree in
EnglishEnglish studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
with an emphasis in
creative writingCreative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...
. Prior to UNC, Dessen graduated from
Chapel Hill High SchoolChapel Hill High School is a public high school in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. It is located close to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Chapel Hill High School is part of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools district which contains two other high schools, Carrboro High School and...
in 1988. After college, she continued waiting tables at the Flying Burrito and writing, and she sold her first book,
That SummerThat Summer is Sarah Dessen's first novel, published in 1996.-Plot summary:For fifteen-year-old Haven it is a summer framed by two weddings: her father's to Lorna Queen and her sister Ashley's to dull-as-dishwater Lewis Warsher, a boy Haven can't imagine plucky...
, three years after she graduated. Since then, her 8 books have won many awards. On April 10, 2007, she announced on her blog that she was pregnant with her first child. Her daughter Sasha Clementine was born on September 2, 2007. She lives with her husband in
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
with two dogs and several lizards.
Two of her novels,
That SummerThat Summer is Sarah Dessen's first novel, published in 1996.-Plot summary:For fifteen-year-old Haven it is a summer framed by two weddings: her father's to Lorna Queen and her sister Ashley's to dull-as-dishwater Lewis Warsher, a boy Haven can't imagine plucky...
and
Someone Like You, were the basis for
How to DealHow to Deal is a 2003 film directed by Clare Kilner. It is based on two novels by Sarah Dessen, That Summer and Someone Like You.-Plot:...
, a 2003 movie starring
Mandy MooreAmanda Leigh "Mandy" Moore is an American singer–songwriter, actress and fashion designer. She grew up in Florida...
. Her novel
Just ListenJust Listen is a novel written by teen-author Sarah Dessen. It is her 7th published novel.-Plot summary :Annabel Greene had what could be considered the perfect teenage life: cool friends, close family, good grades, and a part-time modeling career; at the beginning of summer it all came crashing...
was released in April 2006 and subsequently reached number two on the New York Times Book Review. Dessen's ninth book,
Along for the Ride, was released June 16, 2009.
External links