Visitors to the recently opened Mark's Cafe got more than just a cup of coffee when author and Penn alumna Caren Lissner returned to Penn Friday afternoon for a presentation of her book Carrie Pilby.
A 1993 graduate of Penn, Lissner wrote a biweekly column in The Daily Pennsylvanian and majored in English before becoming a writer for the Hudson Reporter, as well as an author.
Penn employee Adam Corson-Finnerty introduced Lissner to a small and comfortable audience in Mark's Cafe on the ground floor of Van Pelt Library. Corson praised Lissner as a journalist and author, and related how his 20-year-old daughter quickly "devoured" Carrie Pilby.
Lissner first spoke about her path towards publication.
"I was always writing," Lissner said.
After moving to New York, Lissner decided to channel her enthusiasm into a book, centering on "sexual morality through a 19-year-old brainiac." In Carrie Pilby, socially awkward, yet brilliant Carrie moves to New York after graduating from college. Discovering people there to be superficial, hypocritical, and sex-obsessed, Carrie must learn to take part in life while still maintaining her lofty ideals.
Lissner described how after sending 50 pages of her book to different publishers, she received tips and rejections for her book and eventually found success with a publisher looking for something a little different.
Lissner explained how her book arrived at the same time a craze for "chick lit" emerged. Following Bridget Jones' Diary, a plethora of books with frilly covers emerged focusing on relationships, sex and life choices -- and in that genre, Lissner's book found great success.
Lissner then read a section of Carrie Pilby, in which her heroine Carrie goes on a blind date to Barnes & Noble, only to meet disaster. By the end of the date, Carrie states, "I don't have to go on another date, ever! That's it! I've proved they're all awful!"
During a question-and-answer period following the reading, Lissner explained how although her main character is not autobiographical, she identifies with Carrie when looking back to her past. Asked about her own life choices, Lissner said she wishes that as a Penn student, she would have studied a little less and taken more time to become better acquainted with Philadelphia.
Regarding her favorite time to write, Lissner answered Saturday mornings fit her schedule best, describing how she loves to heat up a black and white cookie and write while "everyone else is asleep or hung over."
These Saturday mornings have proved fruitful. Her second book, Starting from Square Two, will be out in March 2004, and she is already in the process of writing a third book as well. Starting from Square Two is a story of "jealousy, friendship and loss" Lissner said. Also falling in the "chick lit" genre, the book is also about a 29-year-old learning how to date again after the tragic loss of her husband. Although she remained mum about her third book, Lissner claimed that it is altogether different from her first two.
"I'm going back to things I've always wanted to write," Lissner said with a smile.
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