Danielle Steel
In recognition of her contributions to literature, Danielle Steel received the Knight of the Legion of Honour, one of several honors that have marked a long career writing fiction for readers across multiple countries and languages.
Born on August 14, 1947, in New York City, Steel grew up moving between English and French, two languages she has continued to use throughout her life. Her education took her through the Lycée français de New York, Parsons School of Design, and the New York University Tisch School of the Arts — a varied academic path that put her in contact with both the arts and the humanities from an early age. Her full name at birth was Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel, and she has built her career as an American writer working primarily in English.
Steel's work spans several categories. She writes novels and has also worked as a children's writer, with her fiction falling broadly into the romance and drama genres. Her output has attracted recognition on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to the Legion of Honour, she received the Officer of Arts and Letters distinction, the Lucien Barrière Literary Award, and induction into the California Hall of Fame. The French honors in particular reflect the connection she has maintained with French language and culture throughout her life — a thread that runs from her early schooling at the Lycée français de New York through to her recognition by French institutions.
The California Hall of Fame induction stands as one of the more concrete markers of how her work has been received in the United States. Taken together, her American and French awards point to a career that has drawn recognition from different national institutions, each acknowledging her place within their respective literary and cultural landscapes. Steel continues to work as a novelist, writing in the romance and drama fiction genres that have defined her career as one of the more decorated American writers of her generation.
Quotes by Danielle Steel
Danielle Steel's insights on:
Maybe some people just aren't meant to be in our lives forever. Maybe some people are just passing through. It's like some people just come through our lives to bring us something; a gift, a blessing, a lesson we need to learn. And that's why they're here. You'll have that gift forever.
Never settle for less than your dreams, somewhere, sometime, someday, somehow, you'll find them.
I love you and I will until the end of time.And just as she said the words, two bright stars drifted past them overhead and disappeared into the night sky together.
I like summer. I like warmer weather and long days. I'm one of those silly people who still enjoy lying in the sun!
Writing is a solitary endeavor, but not a lonely one. When you write, your world is populated by the characters you invent, and you feel those people filling your life.
And so far, their most recent results had been perfect. Their meetings in Germany and Switzerland had gone brilliantly. The testing done in their laboratories there was even more rigorous than what had been done in the States. They were sure now. It was safe. They could move ahead to Phase One Human Trials, as soon as the FDA approved it, which meant giving low doses of the medication to a select number of willing, well-informed subjects, and seeing how they fared.
She had no idea where the future would lead her or what it would look like, but whatever happened, she was determined to survive it.
Together they were more than they each were alone. They didn’t take away from each other, they added all that they were.
He had that instinctive sense of great artists to know when a work was complete and move on.