Sue Monk Kidd is a writer from the Southern United States

Southern United States

The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...

, best known for her novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

, The Secret Life of Bees

The Secret Life of Bees

This is about the 2002 Sue Monk Kidd novel. For the 2008 film, see Secret Life of Bees The Secret Life of Bees is a 2002 historical novel by American author Sue Monk Kidd. It received much critical acclaim and was a New York Times bestseller...

.
Kidd, who was born in Sylvester, Georgia

Sylvester, Georgia

Sylvester is the county seat of Worth County, Georgia, United States. The population was 5,990 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat and business center of Worth County and is claimed to be the Peanut Capital of the World due to its ability to produce more peanuts per acre than anywhere...

, graduated from Texas Christian University

Texas Christian University

Texas Christian University is a private, coeducational university located in Fort Worth, Texas, United States and founded in 1873. TCU is affiliated with, but not governed by, the Disciples of Christ...

 with a B.S. in nursing

Bachelor of Science in Nursing

The Bachelor of Science in Nursing is an American four year academic degree in the science and principles of nursing, granted by a tertiary education university or similarly accredited school...

 in 1970 and worked throughout her twenties as a Registered Nurse

Registered nurse

A registered nurse is a nurse who has graduated from a nursing program at a university or college and has passed a national licensing exam. A registered nurse helps individuals, families, and groups to achieve health and prevent disease...

 and college nursing instructor.

She got her start in writing when a personal essay she wrote for a writing class was published in Guideposts and reprinted in Reader's Digest

Reader's Digest

Reader's Digest is a general interest family magazine, published ten times annually. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, its headquarters is now in New York City. It was founded in 1922, by DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace...

. She went on to become a Contributing Editor at Guideposts.

Her first books, God’s Joyful Surprise (Harper SanFrancisco

HarperCollins

HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...

, 1988) and When the Heart Waits (Harper SanFrancisco, 1990), were spiritual memoirs describing her experiences in contemplative Christianity.