Danielle Steel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Danielle Steel
|
|
|---|---|
| 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 |
| Spouse |
|
| Children | 9 (7 biological, including Nick Traina, and 2 ex-stepsons Trevor Traina and Todd Traina) |
| Signature | |
 |
|
Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel (born August 14, 1947) is an American writer. She is famous for her many romance novels. Danielle Steel is the best-selling living author and one of the best-selling fiction authors ever. She has 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 and writes several books each year. She often works on up to five projects at the same time. All of her novels have become bestsellers. Her books often tell stories about rich families facing big problems. These problems can include things like prison, fraud, or blackmail. Steel has also written books for children and poetry. She also started a foundation that helps organizations dealing with mental health issues. Her books have been translated into 43 languages. Twenty-two of her books have been made into television shows. Two of these shows were even nominated for Golden Globe awards.
Contents
Early Life
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 famous Löwenbräu beer company. Her mother, Norma da Camara Stone dos Reis, was the daughter of a Portuguese diplomat.
Danielle spent much of her childhood in France. From a young age, she joined her parents at fancy 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. She then studied literature and fashion design at Parsons School of Design and New York University.
Career as a Writer
Early Books and Growing Success
While still studying at New York University, Danielle Steel began writing. She finished her first book manuscript when she was 19. She worked for a public relations company in New York. An editor from Ladies' Home Journal magazine, John Mack Carter, was impressed by her articles. He told her to focus on writing books, which she did. Later, she moved to San Francisco. There, she worked as a writer for an advertising company.
Her first novel, Going Home, was published in 1973. This book featured many themes that would become common in her writing. These included family issues and human relationships. Her second marriage influenced her books Passion's Promise and Now and Forever. These two novels really helped her career take off. After her fourth book, The Promise, became successful, she became part of the high society in San Francisco.
Becoming Famous and New Kinds of Books
Starting in 1981, Danielle Steel's books were almost always on The New York Times bestseller lists. In 1989, she was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. She held the record for having a book on the New York Times Bestseller List for the most weeks in a row. At that time, it was 381 consecutive weeks!
Steel writes a lot of books, often releasing several 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 research one book, outline another, and write or edit other books all at the same time. Since her first book was published, every one of her novels has become a bestseller.
During this time, Steel also wrote non-fiction books. Having a Baby was published in 1984. It included a chapter by Steel about her own experience with miscarriage. In the same year, she published a book of poetry called Love: Poems.
She also started writing books for children. She wrote a series of 10 illustrated books for young readers. These books, called the "Max and Martha" series, help children deal with real-life problems. For example, they cover topics like a new baby, starting a new school, or losing a loved one. Steel also wrote the "Freddie" series, which has four books. These books address other real-life situations, such as a child's first night away from home or a trip to the doctor.
Continued Success and Awards
In 2003, Danielle Steel opened an art gallery in San Francisco called Steel Gallery. It showed modern art and featured paintings and sculptures by new artists. The gallery closed in 2007. However, she still helps organize art shows a few times a year for another gallery in San Francisco.
In 2002, the French government honored Steel. They made 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. This was the first time this award was given to someone who was not a doctor.
- 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 and children 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.
Personal Life
Danielle Steel has been married several times and has nine children. Seven of them are her biological children, including her son Nick Traina. She also became a stepmother to two of her ex-husband's sons, Trevor Traina and Todd Traina. She was very determined to spend as much time as possible with her children. Because of this, she often wrote at night and only slept about four hours.
For many years, Danielle Steel lived in San Francisco. Her large home there, called Spreckels Mansion, was built around 1912. It was originally the home of a sugar businessman. She now spends most of her time at a second home in Paris.
Even though she is a famous writer, Steel is known to be shy. She also wants to protect her children from too much public attention. Because of this, she rarely gives interviews or appears in public.
Nick Traina and Yo Angel Foundations
Danielle Steel's son, Nick Traina, passed away in 1997. Nick was the lead singer of punk bands called 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. The money earned from the book was used to start the Nick Traina Foundation. Steel runs this foundation, which helps organizations that work to treat mental health challenges. To bring more attention to children's mental health, Steel has worked to support new laws in Washington, D.C. She also used to hold a fundraiser every two years in San Francisco. In 2002, she started another foundation called Yo Angel Foundation to help people who are homeless.
Writing Style
Danielle Steel's novels often involve characters facing a crisis 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 say her popular stories are based on events from her own life.
Even though some critics say her writing is "fluff," Steel often explores the more difficult parts of human nature. These can include divorce, war, and even the 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, her book 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.
To avoid her books being compared to each other, Steel does not write sequels (follow-up books).
Books Made into Movies and TV Shows
Twenty-two of Danielle Steel's books have been made into television shows. Two of these shows were nominated for Golden Globe awards. One was Jewels, which tells the story of a woman and her children surviving World War II in Europe. It also shows how their family later became one of the biggest jewelry companies in Europe. In 1998, Columbia Pictures was the first movie studio to buy the rights to one of her novels, The Ghost. Steel also made a deal in 2005 to sell the film rights for 30 of her novels to be released on DVDs.
How She Writes Her Books
Danielle Steel spends two to three years on each book. She works on many 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 that she needs to know her characters very well before she starts. She wants to know who they are, how they think and feel, what has happened to them, and how they grew up. In a 2019 interview, she said she often spends 20 to 30 hours at a time writing on her typewriter.
Steel has written all of her novels on Olympia SG1 standard typewriters. She mainly uses two of them. One is at her home in San Francisco, and the other is at her home in Paris. She has had the typewriter in San Francisco since she bought it while working on her first book. She says she bought it used for $20.
Filmography
- The Promise (1979, movie in theaters)
- Now and Forever (1983, movie in theaters)
- Crossings (1986, TV miniseries)
- Kaleidoscope (1990, TV movie)
- Fine Things (1990, TV movie)
- Changes (1991, TV movie)
- Palomino (1991, TV movie)
- Daddy (1991, TV movie)
- Jewels (1992, TV miniseries)
- Secrets (1992, TV movie)
- Message from Nam (1993, TV movie)
- Star (1993, TV movie)
- Heartbeat (1993, TV movie)
- Family Album (1994, TV miniseries)
- A Perfect Stranger (1994, TV movie)
- Once in a Lifetime (1994, TV movie)
- Mixed Blessings (1995, TV movie)
- Zoya (1995, TV movie)
- Vanished (1995, TV movie)
- The Ring (1996, TV movie)
- Full Circle (1996, TV movie)
- Remembrance (1996, TV movie)
- No Greater Love (1996, TV movie)
- Safe Harbour (2007, TV movie)
See also
In Spanish: Danielle Steel para niños
- List of bestselling novels in the United States
- List of bestselling fiction authors
