Thursday, July 06, 2006

Lauren Weisberger (1977- )




Did you know that the author of the bestselling book The Devil Wears Prada (now a major motion picture starring Meryl Streep), the ultimate tale of the boss from hell, was born and raised in Scranton, PA?

Lauren Weisberger was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on March 28, 1977. She lived in Scranton for 11 years before moving to Allentown, PA. She graduated from Cornell University with a BA in English in 1999 and spend some time to travel allover the world. Upon her return to the US, she worked as an Assistant to Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Magazine, Anna Wintour.

Her experiences at Vogue inspired Weisberger to write her first novel, The Devil Wears Prada, the story of recent college grad and aspiring writer Andrea Sachs. Though she dreams of writing for The New Yorker, circumstance leads Andrea to a one-year tenure working as an assistant to Miranda Priestly, editor-in-chief of Runway Magazine. One year soon feels like twenty to Andrea as she, in short, spends the year listening to Miranda says "Jump!" and is forced to answer "Off which bridge?" to Miranda's incredible and outrageous demands.

In April 2003, at the age of 26, Weisberger's first novel, The Devil Wears Prada, became an immediate bestseller. Her second novel, Everyone Worth Knowing, was published in October 2005 and was also a bestseller. She is working on her third novel.

In July 2006, a film version of The Devil Wears Prada was released to great reviews and big box office. The film stars Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly and Anne Hathaway as Andrea Sachs.

Both of Weisberger's novels, The Devil Wears Prada and Everyone Worth Knowing, (including audio book versions) are available to borrow from Albright Memorial Library, as well as from other libraries throughout the Lackawanna County Library System.

Much thanks to Judi K. for this reference.

Photos of Lauren Weisberger and book jacket courtesy of press page on Miss Weisberger's official web site.