“One
of the nice things about books as opposed to television and movies … is people
really do get involved, and they do create, and they do have their own visions
of what different characters look like and what should happen. It’s great.
It means their brains are working.” – James Patterson
Born in New York on March 22, 1947, James Patterson
has become the most prolific author of all time with his phenomenal success as
a mystery and children’s writer. Intending
to become a college professor, he was a Ph.D. candidate when he decided to try
his hand at advertising and, like everything he tries his hand at, succeeded
beyond his wildest dreams. But, he abruptly
retired in 1996 to devote his time to writing.
Good move.
His novels, especially featuring
detective/psychologist Alex Cross, have been among the most popular of all time
selling hundreds of millions with 114 reaching Number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. He holds the distinction of having had more
books sold as e-books than any other author, and he is the first author to ever
have the Number 1 titles in both adult and children’s categories at the same
time. His awards include the Edgar, the
BCA Mystery Guild’s Thriller of the Year, and the International Thriller of the
Year. But, he said, the award he most
cherishes is Author of the Year from the Children’s Choice Awards.
“This is what I believe is most
important:” he said, “Getting good books into the hands of kids – books that
will make them want to say, ‘Wow, that was great. Give me another one to read.’”
No comments:
Post a Comment