Meet Jennifer Weiner

Meet Jennifer Weiner

Jennifer Weiner is the popular author of the bestselling book In Her Shoes, which was made into a movie starring Cameron Diaz, and Certain Girls, in bookstores now.

Jennifer became a supporter of Girls Inc. during the fall of 2005, when Girls Inc. came under fire for its policy of inclusion and affirming the right of girls and young women to make responsible decisions about sexuality, pregnancy, and parenthood.

Find out about Jennifer's activist roots, how her work helps promote the Girls Inc. mission and read her advice for girls.

How do you feel your work highlights and spreads the Girls Inc. mission of inspiring all girls to be strong, smart, and bold?

I write about girls and women who are funny and flawed, smart and sexy, desirable and successful not because they look like supermodels but because of their brains, their heart, and their humor.

In my book (and in my books), a girl doesn't have to lose a hundred pounds and wear a size zero to win Prince Charming's heart, the great job, or the perfect apartment. In other words, I write about a world that's a little more idealized than the one we live in. But I hope that books with characters and stories like mine help to bring that world a little closer to being a reality.

To which of the Girls Inc. Girls' Bill of Rights SM do you feel most personally connected?

As the mother of daughters, I'm a fan of the right of girls to be themselves and to resist gender stereotypes.

As a writer, I applaud the right of girls to express themselves with originality and enthusiasm.

And as someone who has dealt with body-image and self-esteem issues in her work and in her life, I am so happy that Girls Inc. supports the right of girls to accept and appreciate their bodies.

Your bio says that while in college, you majored in English and minored in "rabble-rousing." Can you describe your role as "co-founder of the Committee to Coeducate Eating Clubs"?

When I was a student, Princeton had a system where upperclassmen ate all of their meals and did all of their socializing in eating clubs. You pretty much had to join an eating club. Of the eleven on campus, two of them were still all-male, even though Princeton had admitted women more than twenty years prior.

There was, at that time, a lawsuit brought by a female student pressing the clubs to go co-ed. What I helped do was organize campus-wide demonstrations, participate in debates, and give speeches to show the clubs and their alumni that this wasn't just something that bothered the radical feminist fringe. In fact, students, professors, and university staffers all thought it was unfair, too. I'm proud to say that by the time I graduated in 1991, both of the formerly all-male clubs had voted to admit women. I'm also happy that Princeton has now added other dining options for juniors and seniors who want to opt out of the eating club system entirely.

Your newest book, Certain Girls, released on April 8, 2008 and is a long-awaited sequel to your first novel, Good in Bed. What are some of the new challenges in store for your characters?

When we last saw Cannie Shapiro, the heroine of Good in Bed, she was twenty-nine with a new baby and a new love in her life. When we catch up with her twelve years later, she's married and her daughter, Joy, is preparing for her bat mitzvah, the ceremony during which she'll enter into Jewish adulthood.

Certain Girls is, in many ways, a coming of age story for both mother and daughter. Joy learns to accept her flawed family and the responsibilities that come with being a grown-up, and Cannie learns the lesson that I think all mothers learn — you can't keep your loved ones safe forever; you have to learn to let go.

How do you feel when your books are labeled and packaged for the "chick lit" genre?

Honestly, I'm not thrilled by it, even though it's a situation largely out of my control. Bookselling is a business, and if it behooves my publisher to put pink on my book covers and market them as light, breezy beach reads, then I can't argue (at least, I can't as long as people are buying).

I think that no matter how my books are sold and labeled, my readers know what to expect: smart, strong-willed, sassy heroines dealing with real-life situations, supported by friends, dealing with their families, and usually maintaining some kind of sense of humor about the whole thing.

What advice do you have for girls today?

In researching Certain Girls, I got to read a lot of great young adult fiction that I think I would have found very comforting when I was a young adult myself. I'd urge girls, especially the ones who feel like they don't fit in, to get to know their local library or bookstore and learn about the pleasures of getting lost — and seeing yourself — in a good book.