SOLD OUT | Nicholas Sparks Coming to Omaha for UNO Lecture

March 2019 update:

Tickets for this event are now sold out; however, a standby line will be available the night of the event.

Those who were unable to claim tickets can show up at Baxter Arena's main entrance (facing west) and join the standby line before the event begins. Fifteen minutes before the event, unfilled seats will open to both those in the standby line and ticket holders. As many guests as possible will be accommodated.

Original announcement:

Romance novelist Nicholas Sparks is coming to Omaha as the next featured speaker in the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Marion Marsh Brown Writers Lecture Series.

Tickets are now available for the lecture, which is set for Wednesday, April 3 at 7 P.M. at UNO’s Baxter Arena.

The event is free and open to the public; however, guests will need to claim tickets in advance. Tickets can be claimed online at this link and at Baxter Arena’s Box Office (2425 S. 67th Street) during regular hours (Monday through Friday from 10 A.M. - 6 P.M.).

Claim your FREE tickets

Sparks is author of "The Notebook," "Dear John" and 18 other New York Times best-sellers. His newest book, "Every Breath," will be published Oct. 16.

His lecture, titled "An Evening with Nicholas Sparks," will take the audience deeper into the sleepy towns and poignant relationships that ignite the pages of his romantic page turners, weaving in Sparks' own personal story of hard work, rejection, anxiety and triumph for inspiring authors—and romantics—everywhere.

The event is a homecoming for Sparks, who was born in Omaha. His lecture will be the fourth in UNO’s Marion Marsh Brown Writers Lecture Series, which has previously brought best-selling authors John Grisham, Cheryl Strayed and Lee Child to Omaha.

The Marion Marsh Brown Writers Lecture Series is presented by Marion’s son Paul Brown, his wife Djel Ann, and their children, Randy, Scott, and Marietta Luellen. 

Marion served as a professor of English at UNO (then Omaha University) from 1954 through 1968. She wrote more than 15 books and is best known for her young adult literature. The series celebrates her life and work by bringing a well-known author to UNO each year.

About Nicholas Sparks

Before he was a world-famous novelist, Nicholas Sparks worked a variety of jobs, including real estate appraisal, waiting tables, selling dental products by phone, and starting his own small manufacturing business, which struggled from the beginning.

In 1994, at the age of 28, he wrote "The Notebook" over a period of six months, and in October 1995, Warner Books bought the rights. He went on to write and publish a novel every year, including "Message in a Bottle" (1998), "A Walk to Remember" (1999), "Nights in Rodanthe" (2002), "Dear John" (2006), "The Last Song" (2009), and "The Best of Me" (2011), to name a few — all with Warner Books/Grand Central Publishing. All of his books were domestic and international bestsellers and have been translated into more than fifty different languages.

Coupled with the undeniable success of his novels, the movies adaptations of Sparks' books have become the most iconic romantic feature films for a whole new generation. Beginning with "Message in a Bottle" in 1999, Sparks' novels continued to grace the silver screen with adaptations of “A Walk to Remember” (2002), "The Notebook" (2004), and "Nights in Rodanthe" (2008). "Dear John," starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, and "The Last Song," starring Miley Cyrus and Greg Kinnear, were released in 2010 to great box office success. Sparks continued to dominate the box office with the release of "The Lucky One" in 2012, "Safe Haven" in 2013, "The Best of Me" in 2014, "The Longest Ride" in 2015, and "The Choice" in 2016.

Sparks contributes to a variety of local and national charities, and is a major contributor to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame. He is a co-founder of The Epiphany School in New Bern, North Carolina, and he spent five years coaching track and field athletes at the local public high school.

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Sparks graduated valedictorian of his California high school in 1984, and received a full track scholarship to the University of Notre Dame. His freshman year, he broke the Notre Dame school record as part of a relay team in 1985, but he was injured soon after. During his recovery, he wrote his first novel, though it was never published. He majored in Business Finance and graduated with high honors in 1988.

Nicholas lives in North Carolina with his family.