Karen Kingsbury (born June 8, 1963) is an American Christian

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

born in

Fairfax, Virginia The City of Fairfax ( ), colloquially known as Fairfax City, Downtown Fairfax, Old Town Fairfax, Fairfax Courthouse, FFX, or simply Fairfax, is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth ...

. She was a sports writer for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' and later wrote for the '' Los Angeles Daily News''. Her first book, ''

Missy's Murder ''Missy's Murder: Passion, Betrayal, and Murder in Southern California'' is a 1991 non-fiction book by Karen Kingsbury and published by Dell Publishing. It concerns the murder of Missy Avila, in the San Fernando Valley region in Greater Los Angeles ...

'' (1991), was based on a murder story that she covered in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

. During this time, she had an article published in ''

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the lar ...

''. She has written or co-written almost 100 novels or short stories, and (as of 2008) has nearly 13 million copies of her novels in print.Mike Bailey, staff writer for ''The Columbian'', February 5, 2008
The Columbian: Arts & Living feature
She is a #1 New York Times and USA Today best selling novelist with the last dozen books published topping bestseller lists. Some of her novels are being developed into movies by

The Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies and ...

, including ''The Bridge'', ''A Time to Dance'' (2015), and ''Maggie's Christmas Miracle'' (2017). Her ''Baxter Family'' series is being adapted into a television series.

Lightworkers Media Lightworkers Media is an American Christian media and film production company helmed by President Roma Downey and her husband Mark Burnett and owned by MGM Holdings through MGM Television. LightWorkers Media produced the Emmy-nominated ''The Bi ...

and

Roma Downey Roma Burnett (née Downey) is an actress, producer, and author from Derry, Northern Ireland. She produced the mini-series ''The Bible'' for the History Channel and also appeared in it as Mary, mother of Jesus. For nine seasons she played Moni ...

have the rights to develop the series. Kingsbury also does public speaking, and through national events she reaches more than 100,000 people each year.

Personal life

Karen Kingsbury is the oldest of five children born to Ted and Anne Kingsbury. Her family moved around a lot because of her father's job with IBM; ultimately the family would finally settle down in the San Fernando Valley (relocating from

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

) when Karen was ten. She graduated with a degree in journalism from California State University Northridge in 1986. After she graduated she worked for the

as a sports writer and also reported on the crime beat. She lost on the September 4, 1985 episode of the $25,000 Pyramid She married her husband, Don Russell, on July 23, 1989. They have three children and later adopted three boys from Haiti. In conjunction with Kingsbury, Liberty University announced in November 2017 the opening of the Karen Kingsbury Center for Creative Writing as part of its College of Arts and Sciences, where students can obtain a minor in Creative Writing. Kingsbury herself will teach several of the courses, both in residence at Liberty and online. Karen Kingsbury's father died due to complications from

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

. She chose to start eating healthier and to cut out sugar and as a result lost 70 pounds between January and November in 2007.

Books

(*) denotes a book that is not yet released (if known the release date is shown).

Series involving the Baxter Family

These sets of series is by far her most popular, and comprise nearly a quarter of her work. The Baxters are either the main characters, or play key roles, in each of the books. The series is set mainly in and around

Bloomington, Indiana Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the central region of the U.S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area. According to the Mo ...

(where the Baxters grew up and some of them still live in the series).

Redemption series (with Gary Smalley)

* ''Redemption'' (2002) * ''Remember'' (2003) * ''Return'' (2003) * ''Rejoice'' (2004) * ''Reunion'' (2004)

Firstborn series

* ''Fame'' (2005) * ''Forgiven'' (2005) * ''Found'' (2006) * ''Family'' (2006) * ''Forever'' 2000)

Sunrise series

* ''Sunrise'' (2007) * ''Summer'' (2007) * ''Someday'' (2008) * ''Sunset'' (2008)

Above the Line series

* ''Take One'' (2009) * ''Take Two'' (2009) * ''Take Three'' (2010) * ''Take Four'' (2010)

Bailey Flanigan series

* ''Leaving'' (2011) * ''Learning'' (2011) * ''Longing'' (2011) * ''Loving'' (2012)

Coming Home, The Baxter Family (a standalone work originally planned to end the series)

* ''Coming Home'' (2012)

Baxter Family Collection

* ''A Baxter Family Christmas'' (2016) * ''Love Story'' (2017) * ''In This Moment'' (2017) * ''To the Moon and Back'' (2018) * ''When We Were Young'' (2018) * ''Two Weeks'' (2019) * ''Someone Like You'' (2020) * ''Truly, Madly, Deeply'' (2020)

Baxter Family Children series (with Tyler Russell, for ages 8-12)

* ''Best Family Ever'' (2019) * ''Finding Home'' (to be released February 25, 2020)

Other series

Angels Walking series

* ''Angels Walking'' (2014) * ''Chasing Sunsets'' (2015) * ''Brush of Wings'' (2016) * ''Always and Forever'' (*)

Heart of the Story Series

* ''The Family of Jesus'' (2014) * ''The Friends of Jesus'' (2015) * ''The Followers of Jesus'' (*) * ''First Hand Encounters of Jesus'' (*)

9/11 Series

* ''One Tuesday Morning'' (2003) * ''Beyond Tuesday Morning'' (2004) * ''Remember Tuesday Morning'' (2008)

Lost Love series

* ''Even Now'' (2005) * ''Ever After'' (2006)

Red Gloves series

* ''Gideon's Gift'' (2002) * ''Maggie's Miracle'' (2003) * ''Sarah's Song'' (2004) * ''Hannah's Hope'' (2005)

Forever Faithful series

* ''Waiting for Morning'' (1999) * ''A Moment of Weakness'' (2000) * ''Halfway to Forever'' (2002)

Timeless Love series

* ''A Time to Dance'' (2001) * ''A Time to Embrace'' (2002)

Cody Gunner series

* '' A Thousand Tomorrows'' (2005) * ''Just Beyond the Clouds'' (2007)

Treasury of Miracles Books

* ''A Treasury of Christmas Miracles'' (2001) * ''A Treasury of Miracles for Women'' (2002) * ''A Treasury of Miracles for Teens'' (2003) * ''A Treasury of Miracles for Friends'' (2004) * ''A Treasury of Adoption Miracles'' (2005) * ''Miracles - A 52 Week Devotional'' (2009)

Other works

True crime

* ''

'' (1991) * ''Final Vows'' (1992) * ''Deadly Pretender: The Double Life of David Miller'' (1993) * ''The Snake and the Spider'' (1995) These four books were Kingsbury's first novels. They were re-released in 2014 and included a letter from Kingsbury to her readers, explaining how writing these types of stories became too much for her to handle emotionally due to the darkness associated with them, and thus she changed genres to writing more general fiction with a Christian emphasis (which she titled, and has trademarked, as "Life-Changing Fiction").

Standalone novels

* ''On Every Side'' (2001) * ''Oceans Apart'' (2004) * ''Divine'' (2006) * ''

Like Dandelion Dust ''Like Dandelion Dust'' is a 2009 drama film directed by Jon Gunn and based on the novel by the same name by Karen Kingsbury. The film won 26 awards at 23 film festivals. Plot Two police officers knock on the door of a home and a drunk man answ ...

'' (2006) * ''When Joy Came to Stay'' (2000) * ''Where Yesterday Lives'' (2006) * ''Between Sundays'' (2007) * ''Shades of Blue'' (2008) * ''This Side of Heaven'' (2009) * ''Unlocked'' (2010) * ''The Bridge'' (2012) * ''The Chance'' (2013) * ''Fifteen Minutes'' (2013) * ''A Distant Shore'' (2021)

Children's books

* ''Let Me Hold You Longer'' (2004) * ''Let's Go On a Mommy Date'' (2008) * ''We Believe In Christmas'' (2008) * ''The Princess and the Three Knights'' (2009) * ''Let's Have a Daddy Day'' (2010) * ''The Brave Young Knight'' (2011) * ''Far Flutterby'' (2012) * ''Always Daddy's Princess'' (2013) * ''Go Ahead and Dream'' (with

Alex Smith Alexander Douglas Smith (born May 7, 1984) is an American former quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played college football at Utah, where he received first-team All-American honors and won the 2 ...

) (2013) * ''Whatever You Grow Up To Be'' (2014)

Gift books

* ''Forever Young'' (with Pat Williams) (2005) * ''Be Safe Little Boy'' (2006) * ''Stay Close Little Girl'' (2006) * ''Forever My Little Boy'' (2016) * ''Forever My Little Girl'' (2016)

E-shorts

* ''The Beginning'' (prequel to ''The Bridge) (2012) * ''I Can Only Imagine'' (2013) * ''Elizabeth Baxter's 10 Secrets to a Happy Marriage'' (2015) * ''Once Upon A Campus'' (2016, expanded 2018)

Music

Karen Kingsbury co-wrote her first song, "Walls" with Gary Baker and Richie McDonald; it appeared on McDonald's inspirational album, '' I Turn to You'' and hit Christian and Country radio in January 2009. She wrote the song, "Tell Me to Breathe", that was included on the album '' I Can Do This'' by

Marie Osmond Olive Marie Osmond (born October 13, 1959) is an American singer, actress, television host, and a member of the show business family the Osmonds. Although she was never part of her family's singing group, she gained success as a country and pop ...

. Kingsbury also wrote "Miracles Happen", a Christmas song sung by country musician

Richie McDonald Richard Vance McDonald (born February 6, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. From 1998 until his departure in 2007, he was the lead singer of the group Lonestar, which recorded seven studio albums on BNA Records during his t ...

, which now appears on McDonald's CD, ''If Every Day Could Be Christmas''.

Filmography

* ''

'' (February 2009) - General Release * ''Karen Kingsbury's The Bridge - Part 1'' (December 2015) -

Hallmark Channel The Hallmark Channel is an American television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings, Inc., which in turn is owned by Hallmark Cards, Inc. The channel's programming is primarily targeted at families, and features a mix of television movies a ...

TV Movie * ''Karen Kingsbury's The Bridge - Part 2'' (March 2016) -

Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Hallmark Movies & Mysteries (formerly known as Hallmark Movie Channel, and also known as HMM) is an American digital cable and satellite television channel owned by Crown Media Holdings. The channel was spun off from sister network Hallmark Chan ...

Channel TV Movie * ''Karen Kingsbury's A Time to Dance'' (May 2016) -

Channel TV Movie * ''Karen Kingsbury's Maggie's Christmas Miracle'' (December 2017) -

Channel TV Movie

References

External links

*
Gideon's Gift Movie

Between Sundays
review {{DEFAULTSORT:Kingsbury, Karen 1963 births Living people American women novelists Christian novelists Writers from Vancouver, Washington American women journalists American sports journalists American non-fiction crime writers 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Women crime writers Los Angeles Times people American women songwriters Songwriters from Virginia Songwriters from Washington (state) Novelists from Washington (state) 21st-century American non-fiction writers