Richard Paul Evans is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 author.

Biography

Evans graduated from Cottonwood High School in Salt Lake City. He graduated with a B.A.

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree from the University of Utah

University of Utah

The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...

 in 1984. While working as an advertising executive he wrote a Christmas story for his children. Unable to find a publisher or an agent, he self-published the work in 1993 as a paperback novella

Novella

A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...

 entitled The Christmas Box

The Christmas Box

The Christmas Box is an American novel written by Richard Paul Evans and self-published in 1993. A Christmas story purportedly written for his children, the book was advertised locally by Evans, who was working at the time as an advertising executive. He placed the book in Utah stores and it...

. He distributed it to book stores in his community.

The book became a local bestseller, prompting Evans to publish the book nationally. The next year The Christmas Box hit #2 on the New York Times bestseller list, inciting an auction for the publishing rights among the world's top publishing houses. Evans signed a publishing deal with Simon & Schuster

Simon & Schuster

Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...

, who paid Evans $4.2 million in an advance. Released in hardcover

Hardcover

A hardcover, hardback or hardbound is a book bound with rigid protective covers...

 in 1995, The Christmas Box became the first book to simultaneously reach the number-one position on the New York Times bestseller list for both paperback and hardcover editions. That same year, the book was made into a television movie

Television movie

A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...

 of the same title, starring Richard Thomas

Richard Thomas (actor)

Richard Earl Thomas is an American actor, best known for his role as budding author John-Boy Walton in the CBS drama The Waltons.- Early life :Thomas was born Richard Earl Thomas in New York,...

 and Maureen O'Hara

Maureen O'Hara

Maureen O'Hara is an Irish film actress and singer. The famously red-headed O'Hara has been noted for playing fiercely passionate heroines with a highly sensible attitude. She often worked with director John Ford and longtime friend John Wayne...

.

Evans has subsequently written eleven nationally best-selling books, including those for children, most with conservative Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 themes and appealing to family values

Family values

Family values are political and social beliefs that hold the nuclear family to be the essential ethical and moral unit of society. Familialism is the ideology that promotes the family and its values as an institution....

. His 1996 book Timepiece was made into a television movie featuring James Earl Jones

James Earl Jones

James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...

 and Ellen Burstyn

Ellen Burstyn

Ellen Burstyn is a leading American actress of film, stage, and television. Burstyn's career began in theatre during the late 1950s, and over the next ten years she appeared in several films and television series before joining the Actors Studio in 1967...

, as was 1998's The Locket, which starred Vanessa Redgrave

Vanessa Redgrave

Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...

, and 2003's A Perfect Day, which starred Rob Lowe

Rob Lowe

Robert Hepler "Rob" Lowe is an American actor. Lowe came to prominence after appearing in films such as The Outsiders, Oxford Blues, About Last Night..., St. Elmo's Fire, and Wayne's World. On television, Lowe is known for his role as Sam Seaborn on The West Wing and his role as Senator Robert...

 and Christopher Lloyd

Christopher Lloyd

Christopher Allen Lloyd is an American actor. He is best known for playing Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy, Uncle Fester in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values, and Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He played Reverend Jim Ignatowski in the television series Taxi and more...

.

Non-fiction

• The Christmas Box Miracle: My Spiritual Journey of Destiny, Healing, and Hope (2001)
• The Five Lessons A Millionaire Taught Me: About Life and Wealth (2004)
• The Five Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me for Women (2009)

Novels

• The Christmas Box
  The Christmas Box
  The Christmas Box is an American novel written by Richard Paul Evans and self-published in 1993. A Christmas story purportedly written for his children, the book was advertised locally by Evans, who was working at the time as an advertising executive. He placed the book in Utah stores and it...
  
   (1994)
• Timepiece  (1996)
• The Letter
  The Letter
  - Film :* The Letter , a 1929 film directed by Jean de Limur starring Jeanne Eagels, adapted from the Somerset Maugham play* The Letter , a 1940 film directed by William Wyler starring Bette Davis, also adapted from the Somerset Maugham play* The Letter , a 1997 South Korean film, also known as...
  
  (1996)
• The Locket (1998)
• The Dance (1999)
• The Looking Glass (1999)
• The Carousel (2000)
• The Last Promise (2002)
• A Perfect Day (2003)
• The Sunflower (2005)
• Finding Noel (2006)
• The Gift (2007)
• Grace (2008)
• The Christmas List (2009)
• The Walk (2010) Series book 1 of 5
• Promise Me (2010)
• Miles to Go (2011) Series book 2 of 5
• Michael Vey: The Prisoner of Cell 25 (2011) [This is Richard Paul Evens first novel for the Young Adult catagory.]
• Michael Vey: The Rise of th Elgen (Coming Soon)
• Christmas Every Day (1996)
• First Gift of Christmas (1996)

Children's books

• The Dance (1999)
• The Spyglass: A Book About Faith (2000)
• The Tower (2001)
• The Christmas Candle (2002)
• The Light of Christmas (2003)

External links

• The Christmas Box House International charity website
• Richard Paul Evans official web site
• Winning in the Margins Site