Jennifer Weiner (born March 28, 1970)[1] is a bestselling contemporary American author of novels often categorized as chick lit. Weiner (the first syllable is pronounced like "wine") was raised in Connecticut and educated at Princeton University, where she studied English and creative writing with Joyce Carol Oates and Toni Morrison among others, and also minored in women's studies.[2] She has jokingly referred to herself as a pariah of Princeton's prestigious creative writing tradition.[3] After college, Weiner entered journalism as a cub reporter for the Centre Daily Times, the daily newspaper of State College, Pennsylvania. After moving on to Kentucky's Lexington Herald-Leader while maintaining a column about Generation X, she eventually landed at The Philadelphia Inquirer as a features reporter. Though she no longer writes daily for the Inquirer, Weiner continues to contribute to the paper occasionally while residing in the city of Philadelphia with her husband, lawyer Adam Bonin, young daughter Lucy Jane, and dog, Wendell. She believes strongly that her career in journalism was beneficial to her fiction writing, and is a proponent of aspiring writers getting a job rather than an Master of Fine Arts degree (a controversial position). [4] At age 37, she gave birth to her second daughter. Phoebe Pearl was born in Philadelphia, PA, weighing 7 lbs, and joins big sister Lucy Jane. Weiner is the author of four novels and one collection of short stories. In order of publication, they are Good in Bed, In Her Shoes, Little Earthquakes, Goodnight Nobody, and The Guy Not Taken. In Her Shoes was adapted into a feature film, released in 2005, and starring Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette. Good in Bed and Little Earthquakes have also been optioned as films. Weiner's works, especially her first novel, are semi-autobiographical, often taking place in Philadelphia and focusing on female characters who come to terms with their plus-size figures. Weiner has spoken up in the debate over the term "chick lit," citing the elitism she perceives from women who throw the term around. [5] She writes about such opinions, in addition to daily happenings in her life, in her blog, SnarkSpot. She also maintains a MySpace profile. [6]
