Sue Monk Kidd
With the 2002 publication of her first novel The Secret Life of Bees, Sue Monk Kidd took up residence on the best seller lists. Although she had already carved for herself an enviable reputation as a memoirist with such books as When the Heart Waits (1990) and The Dance of the Dissident Daughter (1996), her venture into fiction firmly established her literary credentials. Kidd credits her receipt of writing fellowships from the South Carolina Academy of Authors in 1994 and 1996 for giving her the courage to attempt her first novel.
Due in large part to the compelling nature of the book’s teenaged protagonist Lilly Owens, The Secret Life of Bees is now widely taught in high school and college classrooms. The book’s popular success led to a major film adaptation of the South Carolina-based narrative in 2012, starring Jennifer Hudson and Queen Latifa. Kidd’s second novel The Mermaid Chair (2005) further extends the author’s exploration of female empowerment and spiritual awakening; it was also translated to the screen in a Lifetime movie featuring Kim Basinger as a woman in love with a handsome monk.
Following publication of Traveling with Pomegranates (2009), a dual memoir with her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor, Kidd returned to fiction writing with two more novels. The Invention of Wings (2014) is a fictional retelling of the extraordinary lives of the Charleston-born Grimke sisters, leading lights in both the abolitionist and women’s rights movements. The Book of Longings (2020) deals sensitively with the topic of the hypothetical married life of Jesus with a focus on what it might have been like to be his wife. Both titles were bestsellers.
A Georgia native, Kidd lived for many years in South Carolina before establishing residencies in Florida and most recently in North Carolina. Sue Monk Kidd was inducted in the South Carolina Academy of Authors in 2011.
Due in large part to the compelling nature of the book’s teenaged protagonist Lilly Owens, The Secret Life of Bees is now widely taught in high school and college classrooms. The book’s popular success led to a major film adaptation of the South Carolina-based narrative in 2012, starring Jennifer Hudson and Queen Latifa. Kidd’s second novel The Mermaid Chair (2005) further extends the author’s exploration of female empowerment and spiritual awakening; it was also translated to the screen in a Lifetime movie featuring Kim Basinger as a woman in love with a handsome monk.
Following publication of Traveling with Pomegranates (2009), a dual memoir with her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor, Kidd returned to fiction writing with two more novels. The Invention of Wings (2014) is a fictional retelling of the extraordinary lives of the Charleston-born Grimke sisters, leading lights in both the abolitionist and women’s rights movements. The Book of Longings (2020) deals sensitively with the topic of the hypothetical married life of Jesus with a focus on what it might have been like to be his wife. Both titles were bestsellers.
A Georgia native, Kidd lived for many years in South Carolina before establishing residencies in Florida and most recently in North Carolina. Sue Monk Kidd was inducted in the South Carolina Academy of Authors in 2011.