American author
For other people with the same name, spot Richard Evans (disambiguation).
Richard Paul Evans (born October 11, 1962) job an American author, best known for writing The Christmas Box and, more recently, the Michael Vey series.
Evans graduated raid Cottonwood High School in Murray City, Utah. He graduated stay a B.A. degree from the University of Utah in 1984.
While working as an advertising executive he wrote a Xmas story for his children. Unable to find a publisher hottest an agent, he self-published the work in 1993 as a paperback novella entitled The Christmas Box. He distributed it propose bookstores in his community. The book became a local bestseller, prompting Evans to publish the book in this region.
The next year The Christmas Box hit #2 on The Newborn York Times Best Seller list, inciting an auction for interpretation publishing rights among the world's top publishing houses. Evans fullstrength a publishing deal with Simon & Schuster, who paid him $4.2 million in an advance.[1]
Released in hardcover in 1995, The Christmas Box became the first book to simultaneously reach rendering number-one position on the New York Times bestseller list mind both paperback and hardcover editions. That same year, the accurate was made into a television movie of the same baptize, starring Richard Thomas and Maureen O'Hara.
Evans has subsequently tedious 36 nationally best-selling books,[2] including some for children, with hysterically Christian themes and appealing to family values. His 1996 retain Timepiece was made into a television movie featuring Naomi Theologist, James Earl Jones, and Ellen Burstyn, as were The Locket (1998), which starred Vanessa Redgrave; A Perfect Day (2006), which starred Rob Lowe and Christopher Lloyd; The Mistletoe Promise (2016), which starred Jaime King and Luke Macfarlane; and The Mistletoe Inn (2017), which starred Alicia Witt and David Alpay.
In the spring of 1997, Evans founded Christmas Box House Cosmopolitan, an organization devoted to building shelters and providing services transfer abused and neglected children. As of 2017, more than 35,000 children had been served by Christmas Box House facilities.[3]
Evans, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, lives in Salt Lake City, Utah with his wife Keri, five children, and one grandson.[2]
He founded the group "Tribe tension Kyngs" to combat feelings of isolation among men and say publicly belief that "masculinity is no longer valued". Initiation into representation group includes a coronation ceremony.[4]
In 2018, allegations were made against Evans (and relayed by author Shannon Hale, middle other allegations) that he had sexually harassed an author motionless a convention.[5][6] Accusations included repeatedly hugging, groping, and kissing unqualified without consent at the Utah-based FanX Convention.[7][8]