To describe New York Times best-selling author Jennifer Weiner as understated is, well, an understatement.
For instance, she calls the university she attended a “fancy college.” She graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University.
Warm and with a healthy sense of humor, the self-described feminist has written 13 novels, is a New York Times opinion writer, penned an essay collection, authored two children’s books and – with nearly 164,000 followers – is also a Twitter phenomenon. In 2005, Weiner’s novel “In Her Shoes” was adapted into a major motion picture starring Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette and Shirley MacLaine. On the home front, the Philadelphia resident has been married to Bill Syken since March 2016, and they have two daughters.
On Jan. 30, Weiner, 49, will be the keynote speaker at the Lion of Judah Luncheon hosted by the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County at The Polo Club of Boca Raton.
In addition to talking about her latest book, “Mrs. Everything,” a multigenerational novel released in June, Weiner says, “I’m going to talk about writing as a Jewish woman and what I see as the intersection of living a creative life and living a Jewish life and my own journey as a writer. I’m looking forward to a really interesting conversation.”
Life hasn’t always been bountiful for the plus-sized woman. Growing up in Simsbury, Connecticut, she was surrounded by skinny girls at school and bombarded by images of svelte women on TV. Painful as it often was, her experiences served to motivate: Today, Weiner is an advocate for full-figured women and body positivity.
“I write a lot about plus-sized women,” she says. “Some 60 percent of American women wear a size 14 or larger. That population has been erased or rendered invisible, and I want to represent them.”
Currently, Weiner is working on a book about a woman who goes to a destination wedding where the bride is murdered – and the protagonist has to solve the crime.
“I love telling stories and love inventing people and losing myself in an imaginary world,” she says. “I love getting from point A to point B. Hopefully, B is better than where we started.” O