At Grappa's Cellar, in front of a crowd consisting mainly tanned, blonde Hong
Kong moms and their young daughters, Meg Cabot struts in wearing a rhinestone
tiara. This is appropriate, as her coterie is also dressed from head to toe in pink
ensembles – wigs, feather boas and tiaras included. All sixty or so of them, seated in a
semi-circle of chairs around a central platform with their pens and books, eagerly await
the professor's arrival.
Yes, I'd stumbled into princess school.
Had I not interviewed her first, I'd have probably thought she was either a ditz or a charlatan
and put her right back into the Caboodle makeup case of "chick lit" writers where she
belonged. But the thing with Meg Cabot is, she knows how to play the part, and in doing
so, gets young girls raising their hands and asking questions, cultivates in them an interest
in reading and writing, as well as the relentless pursuit of what they love to do and
who they are. For Meg Cabot, this is writing novels for young women that adroitly includes
feminist overtones, Lacanian psychoanalysis, social activism, and Marxist theory neatly
tucked in alongside major adolescent concerns - like just how confusing and frustrating
both boys and algebra can be.

that's: Your books focus mainly on those
dreadful adolescent and teenage years.What
was yours like?
MC: It was tough. I grew up in a small,
small town. My family life was not that great.
My Dad was an alcoholic, so my brothers
and would try to stay out of the house as
much as possible. I became the bookworm
and spent most of my time at the library. It
was a small town library, so most of what
they had was teen fiction, but most of it
was "warning" fiction. You know, kids dealing
with alcoholic fathers, etc. Well, I was
dealing with that enough in real life, so I
obviously didn't want to read it, I wanted to
escape from it. I just couldn't find books that
were funny, about girls my own age having
their own adventures, so I began writing my
own stories.
that's: Your post-grad move to NYC seems
pretty formative. Most of your books take
place there.
MC: Yeah, I moved there after having finished
a degree at IU [Indiana University] with
a degree in art. I moved to New York and
did some freelance illustration, which was
horrible. I was good, but nowhere near good
enough to be hired in New York, so I had to
look for other work, which ended up being at
an NYU dorm.
that's: No kidding. Also great fodder for
writing material, I bet.
MC: Yeah, totally. I was like the boss of the
RAs at an NYU dorm. It gave me a lot of
time to write, which at the time were smutty
romance novels.
that's: In your press bio, you mention that
you did freelance illustration for Planned
Parenthood, which I think is really cool that
you openly and proudly align yourself in
support of women's reproductive rights. I
honestly didn't expect that.
MC: Yeah, well, the town where I grew
up was really conservative, with a lot of
Christian values. The county I grew up in,
also had a really low literacy rate, I think
one of the lowest in the US. So one of my
first freelance jobs before I left for New York
was to illustrate a pamphlet for Planned
Parenthood. It was a birth control cataloghow
to use a diagram, condom, all without
words. (Laughing) My friends would get all
grossed out when they'd come over to find
all of these IUDs lying around that I had to
draw. But for me, the more you make it public
and mention it, the better.
that's: Where did the idea for "The
Princess Diaries" come from?
MC: "The Princess Diaries" came from the
experience of having my mom move in with
my art professor…they are still together.
that's: I gotta say, Lily Muscovitz, Mia's
best friend in "The Princess Diaries" is my
favorite character. She's strong, really intelligent,
self-confident, driven…why can't
we have a book about Lily? Someone who
doesn't need to undergo a physical transformation
to feel good about herself?
MC: You have to have a character who's
searching for something. Lily already knows
who she is. Still, Suze, in "The Mediator"
series is also very confident. Her only
problem is that she can't get the guys she
wants. Jessica in the "1-800" series is also
kind of a Lily. They know who they are and
are at battle with the world. Not at all insecure,
really. What they're searching for is for
everyone to leave them alone. But because
they've got themselves figured out, the Lilys
of the world will always be the best friend.
that's: What do you say to people who
think that since you write novels for adolescent
girls, or "chick lit," that you don't write
real books?
MC: Well, I always say "chick lit" is books
about girls finding their way in the universewhat
they do with their lives and who they
are. To me the books I loved as a young girl,
by Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters, in
these books, Lizzy Bennet and Jane Erye,
they had to find out who they are. The focus
of my books very much the same- a girl becoming
self-actualized; it's not about finding
the guy. Now, of course there is the pursuit
of guys, but first she's got to figure out who
she is. And as far as the term "chick lit"
is concerned, it's literary fiction that addresses
topics women are concerned with.
If they're being shelved in a different section
of the bookstore, that's because there's
a demand for it.