Tui T Sutherland Mike Holmes Popular Books

Tui T Sutherland Mike Holmes Biography & Facts

Tui Tamara Sutherland (born July 31, 1978, in Caracas, Venezuela) is an American children's book author who has written more than 60 books under her own name and under several pen names. In 2009, she won $46,200 over three games on Jeopardy! She is best known for writing the Wings of Fire series of epic dragon fantasy novels. Sutherland's books have sold over 15 million copies. Early life, education and literary career Tui T. Sutherland was born on July 31, 1978, in Caracas. Her mother, who was from New Zealand, named her after the tūī, a bird native to that country. Sutherland lived in Asuncion, Miami, and Santo Domingo for short periods before moving to New Jersey in high school. While in high school she began doing theater, mostly backstage work. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Williams College in 1998, writing her college thesis about Ophelia from William Shakespeare's Hamlet, then earned a Master of Arts in Art History. Sutherland's thesis was titled The beautified Ophelia: Shakespeare in British Art, 1850-1900. Sutherland abandoned ideas of a career in theater in favor of writing children's books after "she partook in creative writing courses over six months in New Zealand", a decision she half-joked allowed her career path "to be more far stable and lucrative". Sutherland began her professional literary career as an editor in Brooklyn, New York, at Grosset & Dunlap, then at HarperCollins; her debut solo work, This Must Be Love (a retelling of A Midsummer Night's Dream), was published in 2004. She achieved initial commercial success on the New York Times bestseller list with her junior novel adaptation of the screenplay for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, and rose to further notoriety after joining the Erin Hunter team alongside Victoria Holmes, Kate Cary and Cherith Baldry on the popular Warriors and Seekers series, from the perspective of cats and bears respectively. Her success during this time, coupled with what she learned about the inside workings of the publishing industry, helped her work up the courage to write and see through to publication several books of her own. Sutherland eventually quit her position as an editor to write full-time and later moved to Watertown, Massachusetts. Sutherland has written books under her actual name (or an initialized variation) as well as under pseudonyms and pen names, including Tamara Summers, Heather Williams, and Rob Kidd, the latter of which was shared. After the conclusion of her dog-focused Pet Trouble series, Sutherland pitched the team at Scholastic Inc. about writing an epic fantasy series starring dragons as the heroes. With Amanda Maciel as her editor, the Wings of Fire series debuted on July 1, 2012 to commercial success, generally receiving mixed to positive critical reviews. Over time the series gradually amassed a fan following and became an international bestseller. Personal life Sutherland grew up sharing original ideas and exploring the classics with her younger sister Kari. She married her husband Adam in October 2007, and the two live in Watertown, Massachusetts with their two sons. Though she has generally refrained from revealing private details about her life in her frequent public events, Sutherland's religious background has been noted. Sutherland is known to borrow influences from a variety of religious traditions and backgrounds; she "attended a Baptist missionary school in Paraguay, studied Buddhism in college" and is raising her children with Judeo-Christian influences, having "married a wonderful Jewish man". Though she has woven philosophical and spiritual aspects from a variety of sources and traditions into her work, she has also said that "religion isn't something talked about as freely" in her daily life, instead hoping that her writing can open up discussions among readers and pose questions to contemplate in the freer, larger-than-life fantasy worlds she creates. Sutherland has drawn inspiration from locations she has visited over the years, including the Waitomo Caves in New Zealand and the Amber Palace in India, and develops her fantasy worlds' environments through watching nature documentaries such as Planet Earth and Life in the Undergrowth. A long-time fan of Jeopardy!, she named the sixth dog in the Pet Trouble series after it. In 2009, she was a two-day champion on the show, winning a total of $46,200 over three episodes; the first two games she won by a fine margin, whereas she lost in her latter appearance as she did not wager enough money on the final clue; had she wagered everything, she would have won the game. Bibliography Individual titles Kermit's Mixed-Up Valentines (January 2, 2001, with Emily Sollinger; Out of Print) Meet Mo and Ella (February 1, 2001; Out of Print) Fun with Mo and Ella (February 1, 2002; Out of Print) Who Was Harry Houdini? (July 1, 2002, as Tui Sutherland) This Must Be Love (September 1, 2004; Out of Print) Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - The Junior Novelization (April 10, 2007, as T.T. Sutherland, Pirates of the Caribbean Junior Book #3; Out of Print) Under pseudonym As Erin Hunter Warriors: Secrets of the Clans (May 29, 2007, under Erin Hunter, Warriors Companion Book #1) Seekers: The Quest Begins (May 27, 2008, under Erin Hunter, Seekers Book #1) Seekers: Smoke Mountain (May 14, 2009, under Erin Hunter, Seekers Book #3) Seekers: Fire in the Sky (May 11, 2010, under Erin Hunter, Seekers Book #5) Seekers: The Melting Sea (June 5, 2012, under Erin Hunter, Seekers: Return to the Wild Book #2) As Rob Kidd Legends of the Brethren Court: The Caribbean (October 14, 2008, under Rob Kidd, Legends of the Brethren Court Book #1; Out of Print) Legends of the Brethren Court: The East (December 9, 2008, under Rob Kidd, Legends of the Brethren Court Book #2; Out of Print) Legends of the Brethren Court: The Turning Tide (March 17, 2009, under Rob Kidd, Legends of the Brethren Court Book #3; Out of Print) Legends of the Brethren Court: Wild Waters (August 18, 2009, under Rob Kidd, Legends of the Brethren Court Book #4; Out of Print) Legends of the Brethren Court: Day of the Shadow (November 1, 2009, under Rob Kidd, Legends of the Brethren Court Book #5; Out of Print) As Tamara Summers He's With Me (May 1, 2007, as Tamara Summers; Out of Print) Save the Date (April 29, 2008, as Tamara Summers; Out of Print) Never Bite a Boy on the First Date (September 16, 2009, as Tamara Summers; Out of Print) As Heather Williams Nellie Oleson meets Laura Ingalls (September 1, 2007, as Heather Williams; Out of Print) Farmer Boy Goes West (February 14, 2012, as Heather Williams; Out of Print) Anthologies "Skittering" (Half-Minute Horrors, Short Story Anthology, August 25, 2009; Out of Print) "The Incredibly Important True Story of Me!" (Lucky Dog: Twelve Tales of Rescued Dogs, Short Story Anthology, January 28, 2014; Out of Print) Series Avatars Avatars: So This Is How It Ends (October 1, 2006, Avatars Book #1; Out of Pr.... Discover the Tui T Sutherland Mike Holmes popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Tui T Sutherland Mike Holmes books.