Best-Selling Author to Visit Horsham Library

World-renowned author Jennifer Weiner has been busy.

She's got more than a half dozen novels under her belt, including her latest, "Fly Away Home;" an upcoming new sitcom that she penned called "The Great State of Georgia" that will premiere June 29 on ABC; and a forthcoming novel, "Then Came You" due in July. 

But, Weiner, of Philadelphia, a New York Times best-selling author, will make time for a to the on Saturday. The library book club celebration and autograph session begins at 5:30 p.m. and costs $20. 

Weiner is an eight-time author best known for her novel-turned-movie “In Her Shoes.” 

Her visit is part of the library’s Celebrating Book Clubs II event where book clubs and individual bookworms can network, nosh on refreshments, play games, win a raffle and attend a silent auction. There will also be a book sale where guests can purchase “Fly Away Home,” amongst other Weiner titles. Proceeds from the auction, sale and $20 admission tickets will help the library replenish funds lost from budget cuts.

Excitement is high for Weiner's appearance, the library’s most renowned author visit to date, according to Technical Services Librarian Sandra Courtney.

“We really want this library being established as a place where authors should come,” she said. 

Weiner originally co-wrote “The Great State of Georgia” in 2008 with Jeff Greenstein. Starring Raven-Symoné, formerly of “That’s So Raven,” the show is about a not-stick-thin Southern girl who moves to New York City. Escapades ensue with her best friend.

She describes “Then Came You” as a contemporary pregnancy story complete with an egg donor, a gestational substitute, supporters, and skeptics.

The author has enjoyed moving from writing novels solo to collaborating with a team while writing for television.

“You’ve got a whole room full of hilarious writers to pitch jokes, and tell funny stories from their own lives, and keep you laughing all day long … but novels are exclusively your own vision— you don't have to incorporate network notes, or, for example, make a character a doctor because the network's already got three shows with lawyers,” she wrote in an e-mail.

Lately Weiner said she's been inspired by current events, particularly recent political scandals. She describes “Fly Away Home” as a story of a middle-aged woman beginning to grow up.

“I’ve long been fascinated by Hillary Clinton, the choices and compromises in her life; the question of how you stay married in the wake of an affair the whole world knows about, so I wanted to write about a political marriage, its breakdown, and the impact of that breakdown, not just the husband and wife, but also the children.”

Weiner’s characters are both familiar and novel, sometimes vulnerable and just snarky enough. Her popularity with women has of course catapulted the Princeton grad and Philadelphia Inquirer columnist onto the Chick Lit bookshelf.

“The truth is,” she wrote in an email, “my readers know what I'm doing. They know what they're getting with one of my books—something funny and entertaining, with a lead character they can relate to, and a more or less happy ending, but also a book that deals with some of the serious stuff that all of us face.”

Courtney is a fan.

“I saw her advertised to be at the Free Library in Philadelphia and I went to my director and said ‘Why can’t we have her?’ ” Courtney recalled.

Courtney credited The Friends of Horsham Library for helping to bring Weiner and encourages everyone to come to the event.

“It’s just a great way to network and to meet new people," she said. "And we all have this common bond, that we all like to read."

To register, visit the library on or before Saturday, or call 215-443-2609 for more information.