Author Biography

Louis Sachar was born March 20, 1954 to Robert and Ruth Sachar in East Meadows, New York. At the age of nine, Louis moved with his parents to Tustin, California, where his father worked as a salesman and his mother worked as a real estate broker. After graduating high school, Louis moved back east to attend Antioch College in Ohio. Tragically, Louis’s father died during his first semester of college, and Louis had to return home to be with his mother. For a few years after his father’s death, Louis worked as a salesman, or a “Fuller Brush” man, selling cleaning products door-to-door. Eventually, he decided to go back to college. During his years in college, Louis worked as a teacher’s aide for a local elementary school in order to earn college credit. He claims that it was an experience of a lifetime and that many of the experiences he had as a teacher’s aide inspired several of his books later in life.
In 1976, Louis graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in Economics. Soon after, he wrote Sideways Stories from Wayside School, the first of five popular books in the Wayside School series. His first stories were a success, but despite this, Louis decided to pursue a degree and career in law. He graduated with a law degree from Hastings College in 1980. For the next ten years, Louis would both practice law and continue to write as he struggled to decide which career he wanted to pursue. During this time he wrote such popular books as There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom, Someday Angeline, and the rest of the books in the Wayside School series.
In 1985, Louis married Carla Askew. Their daughter Sherre was born in 1987. By 1989, Louis’s books were so successful that he quit practicing law and worked solely as a writer. In the years to follow he wrote such critically acclaimed books as the Marvin Redpost series and Holes, which was turned into a film in 2003 and for which he was awarded the 1999 National Book Award, the Newberry Medal and the 2001 Mark Twain Award.
Louis’s writing is renowned for its humor and its understanding of the issues and interests that young readers experience. Louis’s inspiration for his writing comes not only from his experiences working with children and from his own childhood memories, but also from his favorite children’s authors, including Katherine Paterson, Lois Lowry, Avi, William Steader and Walter Dean Myer. Some of Louis’s personally favorite authors include E.L Doctorow, Margaret Atwood, E.B. White, Richard Price and Kazuo Ishiguro.
Today, Louis Sachar continues to write books. His last book, Small Steps, was published in 2006. Louis works for two hours a day when he is writing a book and always writes at least five or six drafts of all his books. He never allows anyone, not even his family, to read his books until he is completely finished. While Louis loves writing now, he admits that did not find reading and writing exciting until high school. He also admits that writing is a difficult profession, that ideas are often hard to come by, and that working as a writer is a very lonely job. However, he claims that nothing makes him more proud than the thought of all the books he has written and published.
Louis now lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and daughter and their dogs. His favorite pastime, other than writing, is playing bridge and he often travels the country to play in bridge tournaments. He also enjoys skiing, going to the beach, playing tennis and taking long walks with his dogs. He is not currently writing any books—at least, that we know of!