Jennifer Weiner

Jennifer Weiner was an American author and TV producer whose 2002 novel, In Her Shoes, was adapted into a 2005 film of the same name starring Cameron Diaz. Born in Louisiana and raised in Connecticut, Wiener had a somewhat chaotic upbringing. When she was 16-years-old, her father abruptly left the family, leaving her mother to care for young Jennifer on her own. Heartbroken by her father's abandonment but determined to overcome his neglect, Weiner focused on her schoolwork, and was soon accepted into Princeton University. She was 17. Having long held a desire to write, Weiner studied English at Princeton, where her teachers included the esteemed novelists Joyce Carol Oates and Toni Morrison. She graduated summa cum laude from the University in 1991 and the following year published her very first short story in Seventeen. After graduating from Princeton, Weiner embarked on a career in journalism. She worked at various newspapers throughout Pennsylvania and Kentucky, while additionally freelance writing for glossy magazines like Mademoiselle and Seventeen. Throughout her tenure as a print journalist, however, Weiner spent her evenings working on her debut novel, which was eventually published in 2001 as Good in Bed. The novel was an immediate best seller, thus allowing Weiner to quit her job as a journalist to focus full-time on her novel writing. She published her second novel, In Her Shoes, in 2002, which was subsequently made into a feature film in 2005 starring Cameron Diaz. Weiner continued writing and publishing novels throughout the 2000s, before turning her attention to television in 2011 by creating the comedy "State of Georgia" (ABC Family, 2011). The show, however, was cancelled after its initial run of 12 episodes. Undeterred, Weiner continued writing novels and books, including her 2016 memoir Hungry Heart.