Who is Meg Cabot?

Author, Meg Cabot, has written novels for young adults, mysteries, and historical romances. Cabot is best known as the author of The Princess Diaries, the story of a teenage girl whose rather ordinary life changes the day she learns she has been born into royalty. That popular work has been followed by a pair of sequels: The Princess Diaries Volume II: Princess in the Spotlight and The Princess Diaries Volume III: Princess in Love.

Speaking of her childhood, Cabot told Cathy Sova of the Romance Reader: "I was born in Bloomington, Indiana. My childhood was spent in pursuit of air conditioning. A primary source proved to be the Monroe County Public Library, where I whiled away many hours, reading the complete works of Jane Austen, Judy Blume, and Barbara Cartland." After graduating from Indiana University with a fine arts degree, Cabot moved to New York City with the intention of becoming a professional illustrator. When that plan did not work out, she got a job as the assistant manager of a dormitory at New York University. It was then that she began writing short stories and novels in her spare time. In an interview posted at the All about Romance Web site, she remarked that "I have thousands (literally) of rejections to show for my efforts." Eventually her efforts paid off: in 1998 the first of Cabot's historical romance novels was accepted for publication. Two years later her young adult novel The Princess Diaries appeared on bookstore shelves.