Danielle Steel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Danielle Steel
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| Born | Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel August 14, 1947 New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Alma mater | New York University |
| Period | 1973–present |
| Genre | Romance Contemporary |
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| Children | 9 (7 biological, including Nick Traina, and 2 ex-stepsons Trevor Traina and Todd Traina) |
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Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel (born August 14, 1947) is a famous American writer. She is best known for her romance novels. Danielle Steel is one of the world's top-selling authors, having sold over 800 million copies of her books. As of 2021, she has written 190 books, including more than 140 novels.
Danielle Steel lives in California for most of her career. She often writes several books each year. Sometimes, she works on up to five projects at the same time! All of her novels have become bestsellers. Her books often tell stories about wealthy families facing big problems. These problems can include things like fraud or difficult family situations. Steel has also written books for children and poetry. She even started a foundation that helps organizations dealing with mental health issues. Her books have been translated into 43 languages. Twenty-two of her stories have been made into television shows. Two of these TV adaptations were even nominated for Golden Globe awards!
Early Life and Education
Danielle Steel was born in New York City. Her father was German, and her mother was Portuguese. Her father, John Schuelein-Steel, came from Germany. His family used to own the Löwenbräu beer company. Her mother, Norma da Camara Stone dos Reis, was the daughter of a Portuguese diplomat.
Danielle spent a lot of her childhood in France. From a young age, she joined her parents at dinner parties. This gave her a chance to see how wealthy and famous people lived. Her parents divorced when she was eight years old. She was mostly raised by her father and did not see her mother very often.
Steel started writing stories when she was a child. By her late teenage years, she began writing poetry. She was raised Catholic and even thought about becoming a nun when she was younger. She graduated from the Lycée Français de New York in 1965. Later, she studied literature and fashion design at Parsons School of Design and New York University.
Writing Career
Starting as a Writer (1965–1971)
While she was still at New York University, Danielle Steel began writing. She finished her first book manuscript when she was just 19. Steel worked for a public relations company called Supergirls in New York. An editor from Ladies' Home Journal, John Mack Carter, was impressed by her articles. He encouraged her to focus on writing and suggested she write a book. She did! Later, she moved to San Francisco. There, she worked as a writer for an advertising company called Grey Advertising.
First Novels and Growing Success (1972–1981)
Her first novel, Going Home, was published in 1973. This book had many themes that would become common in her writing. These included focusing on family problems and human relationships. Her relationships in her personal life influenced her novels Passion's Promise and Now and Forever. These two books helped launch her career. After her fourth book, The Promise, became successful, she became part of the high society in San Francisco.
Becoming Famous and Trying New Styles (1981–1996)
By 1991, Danielle Steel's books were almost always on The New York Times bestseller lists. In 1999, she was even listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. This was for having a book on the New York Times Bestseller List for the most weeks in a row. At that time, it was 456 straight weeks! Steel writes a lot, often releasing several books each year. Each book takes about two and a half years to finish. So, Steel has learned to work on up to five projects at once. She might be researching one book, outlining another, and writing or editing others all at the same time. Since her first book, every one of her novels has become a bestseller.
During this time, Steel also wrote non-fiction books. Her book Having a Baby came out in 1984. It included a chapter by Steel about difficulties having a baby. In the same year, she published a book of poetry called Love: Poems. She also started writing children's books. She wrote a series of 57 illustrated books for young readers. These books, called the "Max and Martha" series, help children deal with real-life issues. For example, they cover getting a new baby, starting a new school, or losing a loved one. Steel also wrote the "Freddie" series, which are four books about other real-life situations.
Continued Success and Awards (1997–Present)
After many years of constant writing, Steel opened an art gallery in San Francisco in 2003. It was called Steel Gallery. It showed modern art and featured paintings and sculptures by new artists. The gallery closed in 2007. She still helps organize art shows a few times a year for the Andrea Schwartz Gallery in San Francisco.
In 2002, the French government honored Steel. They named her an Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. This award recognized her important contributions to world culture.
She has also received many other awards, including:
- Being added to the California Hall of Fame in December 2009.
- The "Distinguished Service in Mental Health Award" in May 2009. She was the first non-doctor to receive this award.
- The "Outstanding Achievement Award" for her work with teenagers in May 2003.
- The "Service to Youth Award" for helping improve the lives of young people with mental health challenges in November 1999.
- The "Outstanding Achievement Award" in Mental Health from the California Psychiatric Association.
- The "Distinguished Service Award" from the American Psychiatric Association.
In 2006, Steel worked with Elizabeth Arden to create a new perfume called Danielle by Danielle Steel. In 2014, she wrote an article for SFGate. In it, she shared her worry that San Francisco was losing its unique spirit.
Personal Life
Danielle Steel married French banker Claude-Éric Lazard in 1965 when she was 18. They had a daughter named Beatrix. Steel and Lazard separated in 1972. She later married Danny Zugelder in 1975. They divorced in 1978.
Steel married her third husband, William George Toth, in 1978. They had a son named Nick. They divorced in March 1981.
Steel married for the fourth time in 1981 to John Traina. He was involved in shipping and later became a wine producer and art collector. Together, they had five children: Samantha, Victoria, Vanessa, Maxx, and Zara. John Traina adopted Steel's son Nick, giving him his family name. Steel also became a stepmother to Traina's sons, Trevor and Todd. Steel wanted to spend as much time as possible with her children. So, she often wrote at night, getting only about four hours of sleep. Steel and Traina divorced in 1995.
In the early 1980s, Steel had a fear of flying. She took an eight-week course at the San Francisco airport to overcome this fear.
Steel married for a fifth time to Thomas James Perkins, a financier from Silicon Valley. Their marriage ended after four years in 2002. Steel has said that her novel The Klone and I was inspired by a private joke she shared with Perkins.
Danielle Steel lived in San Francisco for a long time. Her large home, Spreckels Mansion, was built around 1912. It was originally the mansion of sugar businessman Adolph B. Spreckels. Now, she spends most of her time at her second home in Paris.
Even though she is famous, Steel is known to be shy. She also wanted to protect her children from news stories. Because of this, she rarely gives interviews or appears in public.
Nick Traina and Yo Angel Foundations
Danielle Steel's son, Nick Traina, died in 1997. Nick was the lead singer of punk bands Link 80 and Knowledge. To honor his memory, Steel wrote a non-fiction book called His Bright Light. This book was about Nick's life and his struggles. The money from the book, which became a bestseller, was used to start the Nick Traina Foundation. Steel runs this foundation. It helps organizations that work to treat mental health challenges. To bring more attention to children's mental health, Steel has spoken to lawmakers in Washington. She also used to hold a fundraiser every two years in San Francisco called The Star Ball. In 2002, she started the Yo Angel Foundation to help people who are homeless.
Writing Style and Themes
Danielle Steel's novels often involve characters facing a big problem that threatens their relationships. Her books sometimes explore the lives of rich and famous people. They also often deal with serious life issues like illness, death, loss, family problems, and relationships. Some people believe that her popular stories are based on events from her own life.
Even though some critics say her writing is "light," Steel often explores difficult parts of human nature. These can include topics like divorce, war, and even the Holocaust. Over time, Steel's writing has changed. Her later heroines (main female characters) tend to be stronger and more independent. If they don't get the respect they want from a man, they move on to a new life. In recent years, Steel has also taken more risks with her plots. For example, Ransom focuses more on suspense than romance. It follows three groups of people whose lives seem separate but then connect. Toxic Bachelors is different from her usual style. It tells the story through the eyes of three men who are afraid of relationships but eventually find true love.
Steel does not write sequels to her books. This helps avoid comparisons to her earlier novels. While many of her first books had huge initial print runs, by 2004, her publisher printed fewer copies at first. This was because fewer people were buying books in general. However, her fans were still very loyal, and Steel's books continued to sell very well worldwide.
TV Adaptations
Twenty-two of Danielle Steel's books have been made into television shows. Two of these shows were even nominated for Golden Globe awards. One example is Jewels. This story is about a woman and her children surviving World War II in Europe. It also shows how their family later rebuilt itself into one of Europe's greatest jewelry businesses. Columbia Pictures was the first movie studio to buy the rights to one of her novels, The Ghost, in 1998. Steel also made a deal in 2005 to sell the film rights to 30 of her novels for DVDs.
How She Writes
Steel spends two to three years on each book. She often works on several projects at the same time. She says that once she has an idea for a story, her first step is to make notes. These notes are mostly about the characters. She told The New York Times in 2018, "I need to know the characters really well before I start — who they are, how they think, how they feel, what has happened to them, how they grew up." In a 2019 interview, she mentioned often spending 20 to 30 hours at her typewriter.
Danielle Steel has written all of her novels on Olympia SG1 standard typewriters. She has two main ones: one at her home in San Francisco and another in Paris. The typewriter in San Francisco has been hers since she bought it while working on her first book. She says she bought it used for $20.
See also
In Spanish: Danielle Steel para niños
- List of bestselling novels in the United States
- List of bestselling fiction authors
