StephanieKlein

A celebrated author, photographer and personality, Stephanie Klein’s unique perspective on life, relationships, family, and strength of self have made her a multi-media tour de force. She is one of the Internet's most popular icons, with stephanieklein.com recently ranked one of the most powerful blogs in the world by London’s The Observer. In addition, Klein's site has been featured on the cover of The New York Times Sunday Styles section, where she was named amongst "the top 1 percent of all bloggers." Klein's rise has been chronicled everywhere from 20/20 to the TV Food Network, and her blog is part of the syllabus of several universities. On a typical day, over 75 countries access her blog. Klein's critically acclaimed first memoir Straight Up and Dirty has been published internationally, and her recently released prequel, Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp has garnered attention from media like The Today Show and USA Today which featured Moose as one of the top six MUST SUMMER READS of 2008. Klein is a frequent contributor to print, television, and radio, and her photography has been heralded as “poignant” and “bold." All the rooms, suites, and corridors of the Hotel Gansevoort in New York City's Meat Packing District display Klein's photography.

Recently signing with Creative Artists Agency, a top talent agency in Hollywood, Stephanie is entering another phase to broaden her voice.  She is in discussions and development on various scripted and alternative television ventures as well as bringing Straight Up And Dirty to prime time and Moose from book to film.

Born in New York in 1975, Klein graduated magna cum laude from Barnard College, Columbia University in 1997 with a B.A. in English and a concentration in writing.  She currently lives with her husband and twins in Austin, Texas.

About MOOSE
While pregnant with twins, one sentence uttered by her doctor sends Stephanie Klein reeling: “You need to gain fifty pounds.” Instantly, an adolescence filled with insecurity, disappointment, and embarrassment comes flooding back. Though she is determined to gain the weight for the health of her babies—even if it means she’ll “weigh more than a Honda” —she can only express what deep fear this causes by telling her doctor simply, “I used to be fat.”

Stephanie was a seventh-grader with a weight problem. It was a problem at school, where the boys called her “Moose” and her only friends were the nerds and misfits, and it was a problem at home, where her father reminded her, “No one likes fat girls.” After several unsuccessful attempts at dieting and many frustrating sessions with a nutritionist known as the Fat Doctor of Roslyn Heights, Long Island, Stephanie’s parents enrolled her for a summer at fat camp. Determined to return to school thin and popular, without her “lard arms” and “puckered ham,” Stephanie embarked on a memorable journey that would shape more than just her body. It would shape her life.

One needn’t be familiar with camp or weight insecurities to appreciate the bittersweet moments of adolescence and the journey of transcending them, or at least learning to live with them.  Told from the unique and comical perspective of an adult looking back on it all, Moose not only invites us into “the thunder years,” a world of an overweight adolescent trying to fit into more than just a smaller pair of jeans, but it navigates the adult terrain of reconciling childhood wounds and overcoming merciless monikers like Moose.

About STRAIGHT UP AND DIRTY
She had every girl's dream: the perfect marriage to the perfect guy in the perfect apartment on the Upper East Side. Marriage fit Stephanie Klein like a glove . . . but unfortunately it fit her husband like a noose. And then, just like that, Klein found herself "divorced when you're firm, fashionable, and let's face it--fetching."

Straight Up and Dirty is an astute and poignant narrative about the self-confidence unveiled when we embrace, instead of cower from, change.  Sometimes change happens to you.  Sometimes it’s your own decision.  Either way, it’s stressful, but when you’re armed with expectation, confidence, and a remarkable support system you may have to build yourself, you know it will all be gravy… eventually.