The Next Best Thing

About Jennifer Weiner

American author, Jennifer Weiner, was born in 1970 into a Jewish family in DeRidder, Louisiana. Her father was an army physician stationed there. In 1971, her family moved to Simsbury, Connecticut where Jennifer grew up, but at the age of 16, Jennifer's father abandoned his family. The divorce was very traumatic to Jennifer and her siblings. Her father died of a crack cocaine overdose in 2008. Then, her mother came out as a lesbian when she was 55 years of age.

After graduating high school, where Jennifer was one of only nine Jewish students in a class of 400, she attended Princeton University at the young age of 17. She graduated summa cum laude with an A.B. in English. She had written her thesis entitled, "Never Far From Mother- On the Uses of Essentialism in Novels and Films". Her thesis served her well in setting up her credentials for her current career. She studied under several notable, successful authors and playwrights. Her first published story appeared in Seventeen magazine, entitled, "Tour of Duty".

Jennifer Weiner's books have been on the NYT best sellers list for five years. She has sold 11 million copies in 36 countries. She has written op-eds for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the New York Times. Jennifer had two very popular op-eds for the Sunday Review.......Mean Girls in the Retirement Home and Another Thing to Hate About Ourselves. They have been reprinted in newspapers across the world. So used her platform to encourage women to improve their self-esteem and body images.

Jennifer's first novel, Good in Bed, was published in 2001, followed by, In Her Shoes, in 2002. The latter was made into a movie starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, and Shirley MacLaine.