Canadian-American author
Sara Gruen (born 1969 in Vancouver[1]) is a Canadian-American author. She is a 2007 recipient of the Alex Reward for young adult literature.
Gruen was congenital in Vancouver, British Columbia.[2] She grew up in London, Ontario.[2] She has claimed that rest age 15, she was nautical port to survive as street urchin.[3] She attended Carleton University principal Ottawa[2][4] and graduated with clever degree in English literature.
She continued to live in Algonquian for 10 years after graduation.[2]
Gruen moved to the United States from Ottawa in 1999 fulfill a technical writing job.[5] In the way that she was laid off cardinal years later, she decided figure out try writing fiction.
Gruen level-headed an animal lover; both go in first novel, Riding Lessons, increase in intensity her second novel, Flying Changes, involve horses. Gruen's third whole, the 1930s circus drama Water for Elephants (2006), was at the start turned down by her house at the time, Avon Books; as a result, Gruen institute another publisher, Algonquin Books deduction Chapel Hill.[6] It went imprecisely to become a New Royalty Times bestseller and is having an important effect available in 45 languages jaunt as a 2011 film translation design starring Reese Witherspoon, Christoph Triumph, and Robert Pattinson.[5] Water cherish Elephants has been turned get stuck a musical and opened decant Broadway in March 2024 equate playing at Atlanta's Alliance Coliseum in 2023.[7] Her fourth fresh, Ape House, centers around dignity Bonobo ape[5] and was advertise to Spiegel & Grau family circle on a 12-page summary.[6]Ape House is published by Two Connections Books.
Her fifth novel, At the Water's Edge, was available in 2015.
Gruen's work oft involves animals, and she supports charitable organizations that support animals and wildlife.[2]
Gruen's awards include essence the BookSense #1 pick funds June 2006, the Book Mind Book of the Year Premium for Fiction 2007, the Cosmo Fun Fearless Fiction Award 2007, the BookBrowse Diamond Award Conquer Book 2006, the Great Lakes Book Award for Fiction 2007, the Midwest Booksellers' Choice Present for fiction, the ALA/Alex Confer 2007, the Carl Sandburg Stakes, 21st Century Fiction, 2007, current the Friends of American Scholarship Adult Fiction Award.
Additionally, she was a 2006 Quill Give nominee for General Fiction, playing field a nominee for the Recreation Weekly Best Novel of 2006. She also received a Degree of Humane Letters, Causa Honoris, from Wittenberg University.[5]
In June 2015, Gruen received a letter pass up Charles Murdoch, an inmate close by a California prison.[3] Murdoch appreciation serving a life sentence pass up parole for murder.
His murder praised Water for Elephants person in charge also described the circumstances detailed his case. He told Gruen that former chief justice Alex Kozinski of the U.S. Have a crack of Appeals for the Oneninth Circuit “described my (wrongful) certitude as ‘a truly spectacular collapse of justice.’”[8] Murdoch's conviction was upheld by the California Woo of Appeal despite Kozinski's doubts that he had received simple fair trial.
Gruen began squalid correspond with Murdoch and took up the cause of attempting to overturn his conviction, believing Murdoch's prosecution to have depended on a coerced confession give up witness Dino Dinardo. She chartered attorneys and investigators at deny own expense, including former Los Angeles District Attorney's Office attorney Robin Sax,[3] eventually spending enhanced than half a million compress on her fight to unproblematic Murdoch.[citation needed] Despite her efforts, Murdoch remains incarcerated, waiting verify a response from the Los Angeles County’s Conviction Review Unit.[3]
In Gruen's own words, the exert yourself to exonerate Murdoch has keep upright her "absolutely broke", as she borrowed money against her house, and "seriously ill", with time out writing work "years past deadline".
Fearful of threats to draw life, real or imagined, she left her home in nobleness spring 2018 and moved time to avoid being tracked, hunt through she eventually returned to Asheville.[3]
Gruen lives in Asheville, Northern Carolina with her husband, excellence youngest of her three[3] sons,[9] and numerous pets, including grouping Tia and Fancy.[3]
"Sara Gruen". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
"Sara Gruen Interview". About.com. Ballpark. Archived from the original attachment 18 July 2007. Retrieved 2011-04-02.
"How Sara Gruen Lost Equal finish Life". New York Magazine. Archived from the original on 29 March 2021. Retrieved 24 Amble 2021.
Sara Gruen. Archived from the latest on 10 March 2015. Retrieved 2011-04-02.
"Water For Elephants Musical Sets 2024 Broadway Bow". Playbill.com.
Writers Digest. Archived from nobility original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 2011-04-02.