Jack Canfield

Jack Canfield (born August 19, 1944 ) is an American author and motivational speaker. He is the co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, which has more than 250 titles and 500 million copies in print in over 40 languages. In 2005 Canfield co-authored with Janet Switzer The Success Principles: How to Get From Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.

Early life and education Canfield was born in Fort Worth, Texas on August 19, 1944. He spent his teen years in Wheeling, West Virginia and graduated from the Linsly Military Institute in 1962. He ran a residential Gestalt center called the New England Center for Personal and Organizational Development and was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of America (TOYA) by the U.S. Jaycees in 1978.

Canfield is the founder and CEO of The Canfield Training Group in Santa Barbara, California and founder of The Foundation for Self-Esteem in Culver City, California. Canfield hosts a radio program and writes a globally syndicated newspaper column. He is a founding member of the Transformational Leadership Council.

Chicken Soup for the Soul

Canfield coauthored Chicken Soup for the Soul with Mark Victor Hansen in 1993. According to USA Today, Chicken Soup for the Soul was the third bestselling book in the United States during the mid-1990s. Canfield later co-authored dozens of additional books in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

The Success Principles In his book The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be, Canfield left the family and moved in with a masseuse in 1976, while his wife was pregnant with their second son. His son Oran has written two memoirs, Freefall: The Strange True Life Growing Up Adventures of Oran Canfield and Long Past Stopping: A Memoir.

In 1978, he married Georgia Lee Noble, with whom he had one son, Christopher. They divorced in 1999. He married Inga Marie Mahoney in 2001, and is stepfather to her children, Travis and Riley.