Sarah Bird is an American novelist, screenwriter, and journalist.

Biography

She was born in 1949 in

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. Her father was an officer in the

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

, and her family (a "Catholic family of eight"), including her mother, Colista Bird, travelled with him around the US and the world during her childhood. Sarah's mother recognized signs of her daughter's creative storytelling talent as young as kindergarten. She attended the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

, earning a BA there in 1973. Moving to the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, she went on to receive an MA in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

there in 1976. She is married to George Jones, and has one son, Gabriel Bird-Jones, born in 1989. The family lives in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. During the mid-1980s, Bird was a founding contributing-editor to Austin's ''Third Coast Magazine'', for which she wrote numerous feature and humor articles. Bird's first published novel was ''Do Evil Cheerfully'', a mystery (as Sarah McCabe Bird). In 1986, her comic novel ''Alamo House'' was published based on her experience as a graduate student at the University of Texas. She published five contemporary romance novels with Silhouette under the pseudonym "Tory Cates". Bird wrote the

screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...

for the movie ''

Don't Tell Her It's Me ''Don't Tell Her It's Me'' (alternately titled ''The Boyfriend School'') is a 1990 comedy film starring Steve Guttenberg, Shelley Long, Jami Gertz and Kyle MacLachlan. The film was directed by Malcolm Mowbray and written by Sarah Bird (adapted fr ...

'' (1990, starring

Shelley Long Shelley Lee Long (born August 23, 1949) is an American actress, singer, and comedian. Long portrayed Diane Chambers on the hit sitcom ''Cheers'' and received five Emmy nominations, winning in 1983 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Serie ...

and Steve Guttenberg), adapting the ''Boyfriend School'' novel. '' The Boyfriend School'' and ''The Mommy Club'', published by Ballantine in 1989 and 1991, respectively, were both humorous novels drawing on Bird's life experiences. In addition to novels, Bird has written screenplays for television and magazine articles for national women's magazines. She writes a column for '' Texas Monthly''. ''Virgin of the Rodeo'' was published in 1999. Bird was named Austin's best author in 2001 by the '' Austin Chronicle'', the year she also published ''The Yokota Officers Club'', a novel that draws on her experiences as

military brat A military brat (colloquial or military slang) is a child of serving or retired military personnel. Military brats are associated with a unique subcultureDavid C. Pollock, Ruth E. van Reken. ''Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds'', Revise ...

. She has also written screenplays for the

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

and Hallmark, as well as the CBS movie ''Yesterday's Children''. Another novel, ''The Flamenco Academy'', came out in 2006. A new novel, ''How Perfect Is That'', was published by Knopf in June 2008.

Bibliography

Novels

*''Do Evil Cheerfully'', 1983 (as Sarah McCabe Bird) *''Alamo House'', 1986 *''The Boyfriend School'', 1989, Doubleday *''The Mommy Club'', 1991 *''Virgin of the Rodeo'', 1999 *''The Yokota Officers Club'', 2001 *''The Flamenco Academy'', 2006 *''How Perfect Is That'', 2008 *''The Gap Year'', 2011 *''Above the East China Sea'', 2014 *''Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen'', 2018 *''Last Dance on the Starlight Pier'', 2022

Nonfiction

*''A Love Letter to Texas Women'', 2016, University of Texas Press

References

External links

Sarah Bird - and interview with author

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bird, Sarah 1949 births Living people 20th-century American novelists American women novelists Novelists from Texas University of New Mexico alumni Moody College of Communication alumni Screenwriters from Texas 21st-century American novelists American women journalists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers