Dessen's Life

Childhood through High school: 

Sarah Dessen, daughter of Alan and Cynthia Dessen, was born June 6th, 1970 in Evanston, Illinois. She grew up as an only child in the town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina as both her parents were professors at the nearby University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. Both her father and mother were English professors teaching Shakespeare and other classical literature's. As a child, Sarah naturally followed the path of her parents in the pursuit of literature. Sarah loved reading as much as she could at such a young age, and even listed some of her favorite books as a child as; Coming Attractions by Fannie Flagg and Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Sarah was first introduced to writing at the young age of eight when she was given a typewriter. Since then she has fallen in love with writing, and hasn’t stopped since. Throughout high school Sarah tends to fall on the shy and quiet side, holding a few girlfriends but still falling more to herself. Over the course of high school Sarah Dessen experienced many hardships that lead to her adolescent angst. Because of these experiences Sarah held a negative correlation to school and the stories associated with it.

College: 

After high school Sarah wanted to get away from Chapel Hill and the adolescent life she had there. She decided to go an hour away from home and enroll at Greensboro College in Greensboro, North Carolina. However before the first semester came to an end she realized this was not the place for her and had dropped out and returned to Chapel Hill. She then made the decision to stay in her hometown and enroll at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Here she joined their creative writing program and began to find herself excelling at this. Throughout college she spent most of her time either writing, studying, or working. At night, Sarah worked as a waitress at a local restaurant called Flying Burrito, and mornings she worked as an assistant for a Chapel Hill writer, Lee Smith. In her free time she turned her love for writing into her very first book. Lee Smith, her writing boss, came across this book of Sarahs and really liked it. He decided to send it over to his writing agent and, like Mr. Smith, she loved it too. This then became the start to Sarah’s career. After four years attending University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Sarah earned her Creative Writing, BAH degree alongside graduating with top honors in 1993. 

Post College: 

Concluding college she stayed residing in Chapel Hill and took her degree in creative writing to begin working as a lecturer at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and taught the creative writing program. She pursued this career for nearly a decade. During her time working as a lecturer she got married to her now husband, Jay Earl Marks, on June 10th, 2000. After publishing her first book in 1996, That summer, she continued her passion for writing and later became a full time writer by 2006. Her writing career really took off after the release and tour of her new book, Just Listen. After this new chapter of her life began she resigned from her teaching job and fully pursued writing. Shortly after her writing career had launched she got pregnant and later had her first child, Sasha Clementine, on September 2nd, 2007. 

Writings: 

Over the course of time, Sarah Dessen became an extremely successful author. She quickly became a number one New York bestselling author for over a dozen of her books and became known as a one-women young adult empire. She has written over a dozen successful young adult books, and has published these books in over 30 countries. When asked how she chose the young adult genre for her books she simply stated, “The genre picks you.” Dessen was known for writing on the more serious side of young adult books, as most of her stories dealt with complex relationships with friends and family along with many real life issues. Sarah follows a similar writing style throughout her books; isolated girl, life problems, meets boy, additional challenges, overcomes obstacles, all characters grow from the experience. Her characters often fit the profile of issues with isolation, emotional distance, and change in personality. Sarah often creates these stories and characters based on her own young adult experiences and her own friendships throughout high school. Overall, her stories are written as coming of age stories about change in youths personality through tragedy or loss. 

Awards & Honors : 

Sarah Dessen had and is still having a lot of success within her writing. Over time she has earned a series of awards and has been recognized by many famous author organizations. These include: American Library Association (x 4), Best Book for Young Adults Selection (x 3), Quick Pick Selection (x 2), Best Book of the Year Selection (x 2), School Library Journal Award (x 2), North Carolina Young Adult Book Award, New York Library Book for the Teen Age Selection (x 2), International Reading Association, Teens Top Pick, and Los Angeles Book Prize Finalist.