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Marc Levy
   
BIOGRAPHY

Marc Levy was born in France on October 16th, 1961.

At the age of eighteen, he joined the Red Cross, where he spent six years as part of a roadside assistance team, and then as a Regional Director of the Western Paris Department of Emergency Relief.

During this time, Marc Levy also studied at Paris-Dauphine University and founded his first company, Logitec France, during his second year there.
The following year, he moved to the United States, where he created two companies specialized in computer graphics, one based in California, the other in Colorado. By 1988, he was overseeing the launch of a department dedicated to the treatment of synthetic images in Sophia Antipolis, near Cannes, France.

At twenty-nine, after losing majority control of the group and resigning, Marc Levy started again from scratch. He returned to Paris and a year later, founded an interior design and construction company with two friends, an architect and an engineer. Over the next few years their company, Eurythmic-Cloiselec, became one of the leading architecture firms in France.

At thirty-seven, Marc Levy decided to write a story for the man his son would grow up to be. In early 1999, his sister, a screenwriter (now a film director), encouraged him to send it to Editions Robert Laffont. Eight days later, he received a call saying that If Only it Were True would be published.

In October 1999, before the novel even came out, Steven Spielberg (DreamWorks) acquired film rights to the novel.  After his first novel was published, Marc Levy left his architecture firm to dedicate himself to writing full-time.



 
For the past 10 years, all of his novels have been extremely successful and hit the annual bestseller lists.

An instant success, If Only it Were True was the number one bestselling novel in France of 2000 (hardcover). To date, If Only it Were True has sold over 3 million copies in France. Its movie adaptation, Just Like Heaven, produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Mark Walters, starring Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo, was number one at the American box office in 2005. The movie was released in France at the end of November 2005.

Will You be There?(2001), his second novel, remained on the bestseller list for over seventy weeks. The top selling novel in France for 2003 (paperback), over 2 million copies have been sold in France since it was published (all editions). Will You be There? was adapted for television; the series was featured in France in 2008.

Seven Days for an Eternity(2003) was the bestselling novel of 2003 in France (hardcover). To date, the novel has sold about 2 million copies in France.

In Another Life(2004)was the number one bestseller of the year and has sold over 1.5 million copies in France to date (all editions).

Finding You(2005), the sequel to If Only it Were True, was the number one bestselling novel in France of 2005. Since then, over 1.5 million copies have been sold in France.

London Mon Amour(2006) was number one on the bestseller lists of 2006. Since then, close to 1.5 million copies have been sold in France. Marc Levy played an active part in the novel’s film adaptation. The movie, directed by Lorraine Levy, was released in France on July 2nd, 2008.

Children of Freedom (2007) was the number one bestselling novel of the year in France of 2007. To date, over 2 million copies have been sold in France.

All Those Things We Never Said (2008) was the number one bestselling novel of the year in France of 2008. 1.5 million copies have been sold in France since it was first published.

The First Day, Marc Levy’s ninth novel, published on June 25, 2009, has sold 568 700 copies in hardcover in France to date.

Its sequel, The First Night, has sold 540 500 copies since it came out on December 2nd, 2009.

His last novel The Shadow Thief was published in France on June 17, 2010

 
  • The combined sales of Marc Levy’s ten novels, translated into 41 languages, have exceeded the 20 million copy mark (all editions worldwide).  Marc Levy is the most read French author in the world. (Source for all rankings and figures: Ipsos / Livres Hebdo/Le Figaro)

  • Passionate about film, Marc Levy has also been involved in writing screenplays.

  • In 2003, he directed a short film, Nabila’s Letter, adapted from a shot story that he co-wrote with Sophie Fontanel for Amnesty International’s short story collection, Short Stories for Freedom. Shot for an international communications campaign for Amnesty International, the short was screened in 2004 in the context of the organization’s campaign against violence against women. The film was selected for the Valenciennes Short Film Festival.
  • Marc Levy lives in New York.

  KEY DATES  
Oct 16, 1961: Born in Boulogne Billancourt, France
1969: Primary School in Beaulieu-sur-Mer
1973: Returns to Paris
1979: Joins the Red Cross - (Urban Emergency Unit)
1982: Starts university in Paris (Paris-Dauphine)
1982: Named Regional Director of the Department of Emergency Relief for the Red Cross for the region of Paris
1983: Sets up his first company in France
1984: Leaves for the USA where he founds Rainbow Image
Oc, 1989: Birth of his son
1991: Founding of Eurythmic-Cloiselec
1998: Writes If Only It Were True
Oc,t 1999: Sale of audiovisual rights to book to Steven Spielberg
Jan 17, 2000: Publication in France of his first novel, If Only It Were True
Nov, 2001: Publication of his second novel, Will You Be There?
Feb, 2003: Publication of his third novel, Seven Days for an Eternity
May, 2003: Co-authored (with Sophie Fontanel) a short story for the collection Short Stories for Freedom for Amnesty International
Autumn 2003: Adaptation of his short story in to a film for a communications campaign for Amnesty International
March, 2004: Publication of his fourth novel, In Another Life
2004: Writes the song Pour Toi for Jenifer
2005: Writes the song Je t'écris for Gregory Lemarchal
June, 2005: Publication of his fifth novel, Finding You
Sep, 2005: US release of Just Like Heaven, the DreamWorks adaptation of If Only it Were True. Starring Reese Witherspoon and Marc Ruffalo, the film opened number 1 at the US Box Office
July, 2006: Publication of his sixth novel London Mon Amour
2007: Writes the song T'aimer si mal for Johnny Hallyday
May, 2007: Publication of his seventh novel, Children of Freedom
May, 2008: Publication of his eighth novel, All Those Things We Never Said
July, 2008: Release in France of film adaptation of London Mon Amour
June 25, 2009: Publication of his ninth novel,The First Day
Dec 2, 2009

Publication of The First Night, sequel to The First Day

,June 17, 2010 Publication of his eleventh novel The Shadow Thief
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