Laurie Viera Rigler

Laurie Viera Rigler is the best-selling author of the novels "Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict" and "Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict," both published in North America by Dutton / Plume and in the UK by Bloomsbury. Laurie is also the creator of "Sex and the Austen Girl," the comedy web series inspired by "Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict" and "Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict." Prior to confessing a severe case of Austen Addiction, Laurie teamed with Richard Roeper of Ebert & Roeper fame to write a humorous, gender-specific guide to movie rentals entitled "He Rents, She Rents: The Ultimate Guide to the Best Women's Films and Guy Movies" for St. Martin's Press. She also coauthored "Popping the Question: Real-Life Stories of Marriage Proposals, From the Romantic to the Bizarre" for Walker & Company. Having spent several years writing her first novel and reading all those proclamations about how aspiring novelists were more likely to win the lottery than ever get published, Laurie is passionate about encouraging other writers. Prior to coming into her own as a novelist, she spent an exciting decade as a freelance book editor working with authors of fiction and nonfiction. She periodically teaches classes in storytelling technique at Vroman's, Southern California's oldest and largest independent bookstore. In addition to teaching writing workshops, Laurie blogs for her own site, Jane Austen Addict, and is a frequent guest blogger on various book and culture sites. A longtime resident of the very same Echo Park / Silverlake neighborhood in Los Angeles in which "Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict" is set, Laurie now lives nearby in Pasadena, California, with her filmmaker husband and their cat.