The Penguin Speakers Bureau

Jane Green Warburg, who writes as Jane Green, was born in London and has lived in Connecticut for seven years. One of the founding writers behind the genre known as ”chick lit,” Green now writes novels that reflect the lives of real women today, with all the trials and tribulations that come with real life: from in-laws, motherhood, mid-life crises, and loss, all of which are told with Green’s trademark warmth, wit, and wisdom.

She began her writing career in entertainment journalism and public relations, the sort of glamorous-sounding but low-wage salt mines in which readers might expect to find a Bridget Jones, or, to take an example from Green’s own fiction, a Jemima Jones. She moved up to become a feature writer at The Daily Express in London, where she became known for her wry take on dating and relationships.

Then, like all good heroines, Green decided to take a chance and follow a dream. She left the Express to freelance, and started work on a novel. In August of 1996 there was a bidding war for her first novel, Straight Talking, an overnight success.

Jemima J, her second novel, was an international bestseller. It features a narrator who’s a tad overweight—okay, a lot overweight—who daydreams about how her life would change if only she could lose 100 pounds. What happens when she does forms the plot of this ugly duckling-turned-swan story, which Cosmopolitan called “the kind of novel you’ll gobble up in a single sitting.”

Since then, Green has continued to charm and entertain readers with novels like Mr. Maybe, Bookends, and To Have and To Hold (first released in the U.K. as Spellbound). According to People magazine, “Green’s writing is deliciously witty and her heroines authentic. A charming book that demands ‘Read me in one sitting!’”

Her sixth novel, Babyville, was something of a departure; it explores the lives of three different women who discover they’re all wrong about how having a baby will change their lives. The Daily Mail wrote, “In this, possibly the first baby bonkbuster, Green has delved amusingly into the rich comic seam of Osh Kosh-obsessed thirtysomething parenthood.” (For the edification of non-Brits, a “bonkbuster” is a popular novel with a lot of sex scenes.)

With The Other Woman, Green has continued to broaden her focus without losing her readership. The story of a married woman who finds herself battling an overbearing mother-in-law, The Other Woman went straight to number one on the London Times bestseller list.

Swapping Lives told the story of two women, one married with children, one single and yearning, who believe the grass is greener, and Second Chance is the tale of a group of friends who haven’t seen one another since school, who reunite for a memorial service as they approach their fortieth birthdays, each of whom is dealing with a different form of mid-life crisis.

Second Chance and The Beach House, the tale of a woman in her sixties who is at risk of losing her beloved beach house in Nantucket, spent months on the New York Times bestseller lists. Dune Road, her newest novel, explores old flames, new friendships, and lives reclaimed.

The Washington Post describes Green’s writing as “smart and complex,” Entertainment Weekly says “unexpectedly honest,” and USA Today has said: “Happy, melancholic, and beautifully written”.

The winner of a Cosmopolitan Fun Fearless Fiction Award and contributor to the most recent Chicken Soup for the Soul: Power Moms book, Jane Green Warburg lives with her husband, Ian Warburg, and their blended families of six children, in Connecticut, where her passions are food, gardening, and throwing parties.

When not attempting to juggle running the lives of small people, a household, and a career, she can usually be found either cooking or covered in dirt, planting vegetable seeds.

Check out Jane’s website here.