Jennifer Weiner
Jennifer Weiner (born March 28, 1970)[1] is an American writer, television producer, and journalist. She is based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her debut novel, published in 2001, was Good in Bed. Her novel In Her Shoes (2002) was made into a movie starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, and Shirley MacLaine.
Jennifer Weiner
March 28, 1970
DeRidder, Louisiana, U.S.
Novelist
American
Fiction, Women's fiction
Good in Bed (2001)
In Her Shoes (2002)
Bill Syken (m. 2016)
2
Background and education[edit]
Weiner was born to a Jewish family[2] in DeRidder, Louisiana, where her father was stationed as an army physician. The next year, her family (including a younger sister and two brothers) moved to Simsbury, Connecticut, where Weiner spent her childhood.
When Weiner was 16, her father abandoned the family. He died of a crack cocaine overdose in 2008.[3]
Her first novel, Good in Bed, is loosely based on her young-adult life: like the main character, Cannie Shapiro, Weiner's parents divorced when she was 16, and her mother came out as a lesbian at age 55.
Weiner has said that she was "one of only nine Jewish kids in her high school class of 400" at Simsbury High School.[4] She entered Princeton University at the age of 17 and graduated summa cum laude with an A.B. in English in 1991 after completing an 86-page-long senior thesis titled "'Never Far From Mother --' On the Uses of Essentialism in Novels and Films."[4][5]
At Princeton, Weiner studied with J. D. McClatchy, Ann Lauterbach, John McPhee, Toni Morrison, and Joyce Carol Oates.[1] Her first published story, "Tour of Duty," appeared in Seventeen in 1992.[1]
Film adaptations and television appearances[edit]
In Her Shoes[edit]
In Her Shoes (2002) was made into a major motion picture in 2005 with Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette and Shirley MacLaine. She also made a cameo appearance in this film.[31]
State of Georgia[edit]
After signing a development deal with ABC Family in 2008,[32] Weiner wrote a pilot for a half-hour sitcom with producer Jeff Greenstein (Desperate Housewives), originally called The Great State of Georgia and starring a plus-sized young woman who aspires to be a Broadway star.[33] In 2010, the network ordered the show to series (renamed State of Georgia), and it went on to air 12 episodes in the summer of 2011. On September 16, Weiner announced the show's cancellation via Twitter.[34]
Television appearances[edit]
Weiner made her TV debut on The Tony Danza Show in 2005, reappearing in 2006. She made a cameo appearance as herself in the Younger episode "The Jade Crusade" in 2016.