Klein, Stephanie 1975- (Stephanie Tara Klein)

PERSONAL:

Born 1975, in East Williston, NY; divorced; remarried; children: two (twins). Education: Barnard College, B.A., 1997. Religion: Jewish.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Austin, TX. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Worked for an advertising company in New York, NY, as an interactive art director, 1998-2005; freelance photographer.

WRITINGS:

Straight Up & Dirty: A Memoir, Regan Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Author of blog Greek Tragedy: Stories of My Life, 2004—. Contributor to television programs; contributor to periodicals.

ADAPTATIONS:

A half-hour television series based on Straight Up & Dirty is planned for NBC.

SIDELIGHTS:

When she divorced her urologist husband, Stephanie Klein began keeping a personal journal about her thoughts and feelings as a kind of therapy. After about three years of recording her emotions on paper, Klein started a blog in 2004 called Greek Tragedy: Stories of My Life. She chose this title because she was part Greek and also in reference to a college-days humiliation in which she was the only girl at Barnard College not asked to pledge a sorority house. With great frankness, Klein spilled out all of her emotions into cyberspace, even including many personal photos. Today, she still updates her blog daily, talking about her childhood, her struggles with her weight, her divorce, dating, self-esteem, and other subjects. It did not initially occur to her that many people would actually read her rants, until she read somewhere that her blog ranked 2,132 out of the over thirteen million blogs on the Internet at the time. This was a stunning result when she was competing with many professional, news- and entertainment-related blogs on the Internet. Suddenly, Klein realized she had millions of readers accessing her blog.

In the summer of 2004, just months after she had begun Greek Tragedy, she was approached by the publisher of the London Independent, who wanted her to write a book. Klein was amazed, but instead of jumping at the offer, she found an agent, who advised her to seek an American publisher. Regan Books published Straight Up & Dirty: A Memoir in 2006. Although Carol Memmot, writing in USA Today, felt that Klein gets too personal at times—such as when she discusses some of her bathroom grooming routines—the critic reported that "Klein is a talented writer who tells the story of her love life with boldness and irreverence." The reviewer also observed that the author has a "wonderful sense of humor," though she sometimes lapses into "saccharine perkiness." Calling Straight Up & Dirty a "satisfying confection of a poolside read," an Austinist contributor appreciated Klein's "wickedly honest memoir."

Klein told CA: I knew I wanted to be a writer in the fourth grade. We were given an oversized piece of paper, half of which had lines for writing, and above that, the other half was blank for drawing. We were to draw a scene and then write about it. I remember lying on the green tile floor outside Mrs. Kalb's class doing this exercise thinking, "This is what I want to do for the rest of my life." That day, I came home from school and told my parents I was going to be a writer.

I hope to encourage people to follow their passions, to live their own lives despite how those around them might want them to live it. It's my hope that people realize they're born with all the tools to survive and nurture themselves through whatever changes are thrown their way."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Klein, Stephanie, Straight Up & Dirty: A Memoir, Regan Books (New York, NY), 2006.

PERIODICALS

Entertainment Weekly, July 21, 2006, "Clothes to Your Heart," review of Straight Up & Dirty, p. 73.

USA Today, August 17, 2006, Carol Memmott, "Hands-Down, ‘Straight Up’ Is Way Too Out There," p. D5.

ONLINE

Austinist,http://www.austinist.com/ (July 26, 2006), review of Straight Up & Dirty.

Conversations with Famous Writers,http://conversationsfamouswriters.blogspot.com/ (July 19, 2007), interview with Stephanie Klein.

Four Weeks Magazine,http://www.fourweeksmag.com/ (March 2, 2007), "Mission: Build a Dream," interview with Stephanie Klein.

Greek Tragedy: Stories of My Life,http://stephanieklein.blogs.com (March 2, 2007). New York Times Online, July 24, 2005, Stephanie Rosenbloom, "Reader, I Dated Him."

Stephanie Klein MySpace Profile, http://www.myspace.com/blogess (March 2, 2007).

Village Voice Online,http://www.villagevoice.com/ (July 31, 2006), Rachel Kramer Bussel, "Hope Blogs," interview with Stephanie Klein.