Nicholas Charles Sparks books is an american writer that writes some of the most beautiful love stories ever.
Agreed. He has wrote A walk to Remember and The Notebook
He is from Omaha, Nebraska but most of his stories seem to take place near the sea. Strange!
It could be due to that "longing for the sea" that you hear people talk about. I think in some of his books it almost required to get the right feeling.
He actually wrote his first book "The Passing", in 1985, while a student at the University of Notre 
I didn't know that. I was still pretty young at that point and it wasnt till my 20s that those other books were turned into movies and I learned about them.
That wasn't his first published book. His first published book was  "Wokini: A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding", which sold approximated 50,000 copies in its first year. Personally I just watch the movies, 
It's sad to say but sometimes it is much easier to watch the films. It seems like he has had a great and long career. I'm sure it hasn't been easy.
Yes he has been at it more then 30 years, Several of his novels have become international bestsellers, so I would look for more movies soon.