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Sue Monk Kidd
Bestselling Author  Novelist  Essayist
 

Sue Monk Kidd’s stunning bestselling debut novel, The Secret Life of Bees (2002), has enchanted critics and readers alike, bringing her literary renown and establishing her as one of the most popular writers working today. Taught widely now in colleges and high schools, The Secret Life of Bees is Southern storytelling at its finest and is fast becomSue Monk Kidd by Sigrid Estradaing a modern classic. It has been translated into 23 languages, produced on stage in New York and is currently being made into a major motion picture.

 

After spending over 2 years on the New York Times bestseller list, and selling more than 5 million copies, her readers eagerly anticipated the publication of her next book, The Mermaid Chair (2005), an “emotionally rich novel, full of sultry, magical descriptions of life in the South.” It immediately found its way on to the hardcover bestseller list where it stayed for 6 months. Winner of the 2005 Quill Award for General Fiction, The Mermaid Chair has sold over 1.7 million copies and was adapted into a television movie.


Kidd has a flair for making us see her characters with great vividness and immediacy.


The New York Times Book Review


Sue Monk Kidd is also the author of three highly regarded spiritual memoirs: God’s Joyful Surprise (1988), When the Heart Waits (1990) and The Dance of the Dissident Daughter (1996), her groundbreaking work in the field of feminine spirituality and feminist theology.

 
A collection of her early writings was recently released in hardcover by Guideposts Books (2006) and will be published by Penguin in paperback in September 2007. Titled Firstlight, the book is a compilation of inspirational stories, spiritual essays, and meditations that Kidd wrote for a little over a decade—from the age of thirty until she was around forty-two—and which offers an intimate glimpse into her formative years as a writer and a spiritual seeker. The book, which debuted on the New York Times extended bestseller list and was a book club selection for Spirituality and Health magazine, is being translated into several languages and has over 200,000 copies in print.


Sue Monk Kidd has received numerous writing awards and honors, including the 2004 Book Sense Paperback book of the Year, a nomination for the Orange Prize in England and the selection of The Secret Life of Bees as Good Morning America’s Read This! Book Club pick.


In her lectures she talks about the experience of becoming a writer, shifting the focus of her work from nonfiction to fiction, the inspiration for her stories and characters and Southern literature.

 

Kidd lives with her husband Sandy near Charleston, SC where she is currently at work on a new book.

 

SELECTED WRITING

 

Fiction

  • The Mermaid Chair (Viking, 2005)
  • The Secret Life of Bees (Viking, 2001)

Nonfiction

  • Firstlight: The Early Inspirational Writings of Sue Monk Kidd (GuidepostsBooks, 2006/Penguin, 2007
  • The Dance of the Dissident Daughter: A Journey from the Christian Tradition to the Sacred Feminine (Harper, 1996)
  • When the Heart Waits (Harper, 1990)
  • God's Joyful Surprise (Harper, 1988)

Selected Awards

2006 South Carolina “The Order of the Palmetto” Award, The state’s highest civilian honor, bestowed by the Governor

2005 Winner, Quill Award in General Fiction, The Mermaid Chair

2004 Winner, Book Sense Book of the Year in paperback, The Secret Life of Bees

2003 Winner, SEBA Book of the Year, The Secret Life of Bees

2003 Finalist, Book Sense Book of the Year for fiction, The Secret Life of Bees

2003 Finalist for the 2003 Boeke Prize in South Africa, The Secret Life of Bees

2002 Nominee, the Orange Prize (England), The Secret Life of Bees


To hear an audio interview with Sue Monk Kidd on barnesandnoble.com, click here.


For more information about Sue Monk Kidd and her work, go to www.suemonkkidd.com.



The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd


Inspiring. Sue Monk Kidd is a direct literary descendant of Carson McCullers.


The Baltimore Sun

 

 

Fully imagined...the core of this story is Lily's search for a mother, and she finds one in a place she never expected.


The New York Times Book Review

 

 

The tale of one motherless daughter's discovery of what family really means—and of the strange and wondrous places we love.


The Washington Post

 

 

The stunning metaphors and realistic characters are so poignant they will bring tears to your eyes.


Library Journal

 

 

Kidd has written a triumphant coming-of-age novel that speaks to the universal need for love.


New Orleans Times-Picayune

 

 

The chapters...dance on the edges of 'Magical Realism,' that blend of the fabulous and the ordinary that can invest a tale with a sense of wonderment, as is the case here.


Richmond Times-Dispatch

 

 

A truly original Southern voice.


Anita Shreve, novelist


The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd