Stephenie Meyer
Stephenie Meyer’s life changed dramatically on June 2, 2003. The stay-at-home mother of three young sons woke-up from a dream featuring seemingly real characters that she could not get out of her head. “Though I had a million things to do (i.e. making breakfast for hungry children, dressing and changing the diapers of said children, finding the swimsuits that no one ever puts away in the right place), I stayed in bed, thinking about the dream. Unwillingly, I eventually got up and did the immediate necessities, and then put everything that I possibly could on the back burner and sat down at the computer to write—something I hadn't done in so long that I wondered why I was bothering.” Meyer invented the plot during the day through swim lessons and potty training, then writing it out late at night when the house was quiet. Three months later she finished her first novel, Twilight.With encouragement from her older sister (the only other person who knew she had written a book), Meyer submitted her manuscript to various literary agencies. Twilight was picked out of a slush pile at Writer’s House and the manuscript quickly made its rounds among publishers. Megan Tingley at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers made a major six-figure preemptive bid for three books.
Twilight was one of 2005’s most talked about novels and within weeks of its release the book debuted at #5 on The New York Times bestseller list. There are over 2.2 million copies of Twilight in-print and the rights have been sold in over 33 countries. Among its many accolades, Twilight was named an “ALA Top Ten Books for Young Adults,” an Amazon.com “Best Book of the Decade…So Far”, and a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year.
The highly-anticipated sequel, New Moon, was released in September 2006 and has spent 31 weeks at the #1 position on The New York Times bestseller list. The book was so highly-anticipated by Meyer’s eager fans that Advance Readers Copies were being sold on eBay for as high as $380. New Moon has 1.4 million copies in-print and rights have been sold in 27 countries.
The third book in Meyer’s Twilight saga, Eclipse was released on August 7, 2007 and sold 150,000 copies its first day on-sale. The book debuted at #1 bestseller lists across the country, including USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. The book already has 1.5 million copies in print and rights have been sold in 21 countries. It was also #1 bestseller in Germany, Spain and Argentina.
Meyer is greeted on book tours like a rock star – thousands of fans show up to her appearances dressed up as characters from the books and make homemade t-shirts. They often travel far and wide to see their favourite author. At a recent event in San Francisco, a girl travelled all the way from Germany to meet the author – over 6000 miles!
2008 promises to be a big year for Meyer. On May 6, 2008, Little, Brown and Company will release The Host, Meyer’s highly-anticipated debut for novel adults. And on August 2, 2008, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers will publish the fourth and final book in the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn. The movie version of Twilight will be released by Summit Entertainment nationwide on December 12, 2008, starring Kristen Stewart ("Into The Wild") and Robert Pattinson ("Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”).
Stephenie Meyer graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in English Literature, and is often asked “What’s a nice Mormon girl like you doing writing about vampires?” She lives in Arizona with her husband and sons.
Biography courtesy of Hachette Book Group
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