{"id":1037257,"date":"2026-09-01T17:57:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T17:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1037257\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T17:57:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T17:57:14","slug":"jennifer-weiner-invests-30k-in-next-generation-of-philly-writers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1037257\/","title":{"rendered":"Jennifer Weiner invests $30K in next generation of Philly writers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jennifer Weiner<\/a> is once again investing in the next generation of Philadelphia writers.<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia-based, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author has donated $30,000 to the second cycle of the Jennifer Weiner Fellowship, in partnership with the Philly literary arts nonprofit Blue Stoop<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Six woman-identified emerging prose writers from the Greater Philadelphia area will receive an unrestricted $5,000 stipend each that can be used for anything that supports their writing journey, from living expenses, childcare, travel, professional opportunities or other needs. Blue Stoop also offers mentorship and a supportive community.<\/p>\n

“We are incredibly grateful to Jennifer Weiner for her generosity and dedication to empowering emerging writers,” said Julian Shendelman and Taylor Townes, co-directors of Blue Stoop. “This fellowship will offer participants the time and space needed to explore new ideas and tackle transformative projects.”<\/p>\n

Weiner (‘Good in Bed<\/a>,’ ‘In Her Shoes,’ ‘The Griffin Sisters\u2019 Greatest Hits’) recently spoke with Metro<\/a> about the personal experiences that inspired her to create the fellowship with Blue Stoop, why she believes Philadelphia is such a special place for writers, advice for emerging writers, and the books<\/a> she\u2019s currently reading and recommending. <\/p>\n

You said you\u2019ve been fortunate in your own career and are now in a position to support the next generation of writers. Was there a particular moment or experience that made you think, \u201cI want to be able to do this for someone else\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d been thinking about doing something for a very long time, and there were a few things over the years that finally made me take the leap. First, when I became a mother in 2003, I remember thinking how impossible it would have been for me to get any writing done without paid childcare. I wrote my first book when I was single, and had a lot of free time, and I knew I\u2019d never have been able to do it as a new mom \u2014 which made me think about all of the other mothers out there, with stories to tell and no time to tell them.<\/p>\n

Then, in 2020, the Jeanine Cummins ‘American Dirt’ situation had a big impact. I knew how much easier it was to publish a book as a white person than as a person of color \u2014 I\u2019d followed the #publishingpaidme hashtag, and I\u2019d heard anecdotally about writers being told things like, \u201cWe loved your manuscript, but we\u2019re already publishing a book by a Black author,\u201d which is something white writers never hear. But seeing how it was relatively easy for a white woman to write a book set in Mexico while actual Mexican and Hispanic authors couldn\u2019t get their books published, and how nobody flagged the issues with ‘American Dirt,’ or with its marketing and promotion, because white people didn\u2019t see them, really stayed with me.<\/p>\n

I spent a lot of time thinking about what I could do, and how I could help working mothers, or people who haven\u2019t traditionally been as welcomed by publishing. And here we are.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Can you talk a bit about Blue Stoop and the work they\u2019re doing in Philadelphia, and why you wanted to partner with them on this fellowship?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Blue Stoop<\/a> is the premier nonprofit supporting writers in Philadelphia, and the city is so lucky to have it. Blue Stoop offers classes in all kinds of fiction and nonfiction writing. It offers community and support, and a way for people to access insider expertise without enrolling in a two-year MFA program. They\u2019ve been such a great partner in this endeavor and I\u2019m so glad to be working with them again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As someone who lives and writes in Philadelphia, what do you think is special about the community of writers here?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are so many incredible writers working in every genre, from literary fiction to elevated thrillers to fantasy to memoir. We\u2019ve got local publishers. We\u2019ve got fabulous independent bookstores. We\u2019ve got the Philly Book Crawl<\/a> and all kinds of readings and workshops and writers\u2019 groups and events. But Philadelphia\u2019s not so big that it feels overwhelming or intimidating. Best of all, I think writers can actually afford to live here.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For an emerging writer who has a story they desperately want to tell, but might still be wondering whether they\u2019re \u201cgood enough\u201d or whether anyone will want to read it, what would you say to them?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d tell them to start writing. You\u2019ll never know whether anyone wants to read your story until you start to tell it. There are a million ways to do that \u2014 you can start a Substack, you can join a writers\u2019 group, you can take a class, or find an open mic night and just start talking. You\u2019re never going to know if you\u2019re good enough if you don\u2019t get your story written and put it out into the world.<\/p>\n

When you were first starting out, was there a piece of advice someone gave you that really stuck with you \u2014 something you still find yourself passing along to writers today?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I had a professor in college who told me I was a good writer, but a very good rewriter, and that stuck with me, and I pass it along in a slightly different form, by telling people this: You can always take what you\u2019ve got and make it better, but you can\u2019t improve something that\u2019s not on the page. It\u2019s always better to write 500 not-great words, knowing you can go back and revise them, than to sit at your desk for hours, typing and deleting and retyping and re-deleting because you can\u2019t think of the perfect word, or the most lyrical phrase, or the most economical way to get your characters from one room to another. Write something. Stop writing at a place that will make it easy for you to pick it up when you start again.<\/p>\n

And then I had a friend who\u2019s a writer, who likes to say: The thing you\u2019re writing doesn\u2019t have to be the best, but it does have to be the very best that you can do. And you can\u2019t stop until you\u2019ve gotten it there.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I love your book recommendations on Instagram and added ‘Siren Says’ to my library holds. What\u2019s currently sitting on your to-be-read stack? Or anything else you\u2019ve read recently that you want to recommend?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a lifetime Susan Isaacs proselytizer, and I think everyone who likes richly detailed, emotionally resonating novels about smart, plucky heroines who get the guy and save the day should read ‘Almost Paradise’ and ‘Shining Through.’ I think Tayari Jones\u2019 ‘Kin’ is one of the best books I\u2019ve read this year, and that Sarai Walker\u2019s ‘Furious Violet’ is fantastic, in the way it uses the structure of a thriller to say a lot of interesting things about women and creativity and mothers and daughters and who owns a writer\u2019s legacy. And I cannot wait to read the third book in the Stephen King\/Peter Straub Talisman series, ‘Other Worlds Than These.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0I picked up ‘The Summer Place’ from a Little Free Library last week. It made me wonder: If someone who had never read your books before randomly stumbled across one of them, which one would you hope they found and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n

That\u2019s a great question! I guess it would depend on who this theoretical reader is. If she likes mysteries, I\u2019d hope she\u2019d find ‘Big Summer’ or ‘Goodnight, Nobody.’ If she likes historical fiction and is interested in the changing roles of women and the impact of second-wave feminism, I\u2019d hope ‘Mrs. Everything’ would be there. If she rides her bike, or wants to, I\u2019d hope it was ‘The Breakaway,’ and if she\u2019s a music fan, I\u2019d hope it was ‘The Griffin Sisters\u2019 Greatest Hits.’ But ‘Good in Bed’ will always have a special place in my heart, because it was the first book I ever wrote, and I think it\u2019s still the one most people would name as their favorite. Also, there are the most copies of that one in print, so it\u2019s maybe the most likely to end up in a Little Free Library.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Applications for the Jennifer Weiner Fellowship are open now through Sept. 8. For eligibility criteria and important deadlines, visit bluestoop.org\/fellows<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MORE: Free Library of Philadelphia reveals fall author events<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\t\tKeywords<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tJennifer Weiner,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Blue Stoop,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Jennifer Weiner Fellowship,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Philadelphia writers,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Philly authors,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t books,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t literature,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t arts and culture,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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