About Me

I was born on February 1, 1967, during the Chinese astrological year of the Fire Horse, a notoriously unlucky sign. Fortunately I grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, where few people were aware of the stigma of being a fire horse-at least until I became a teenager, when I flunked freshman Algebra twice, then decided to cut my own bangs. After six years as an undergrad at Indiana University (a college to which I was only accepted because my father taught there), I moved to New York City (in the middle of a sanitation worker strike) to pursue a career as an illustrator, at which I failed miserably, forcing me to turn to my favorite hobby—writing novels—for emotional succor. I worked various jobs to pay the rent, including a decade-long stint as the assistant manager of a 700 bed freshmen dormitory at NYU, a position I still occasionally miss.

I am now the author of over forty books for both adults and teens, many of which have been bestsellers, most notably The Princess Diaries series, which is currently being published in over 37 countries, has sold over five million copies worldwide, and was made into two hit movies by Disney. In addition, I wrote the Mediator and 1-800-Where-R-You series (on which the Lifetime channel series, Missing, was based), two All-American Girl books, Teen Idol, Avalon High, How to Be Popular, many historical romance novels under a pen name I still hope my grandma never finds out about, a series of novels written entirely in email format (Boy Next Door, Boy Meets Girl, and Every Boy's Got One), a mystery series (Size 12 Is Not Fat/ Size 14 Is Not Fat Either), and a chick-lit series called Queen of Babble, about a young woman who talks too much, a personality trait with which I am completely unfamiliar.

I now divide my time between New York City and Key West with a primary cat (one-eyed Henrietta),various back-up cats, and my husband, who doesn't know he married a fire horse. Please don't tell him.

Member Since

Jun 8, 2007

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• Meg Cabot