Kim Gruenenfelder is an American author and screenwriter. She became known for writing

women's fiction Women's fiction is an umbrella term for women-centered books that focus on women's life experience that are marketed to female readers, and includes many mainstream novels or women's rights books. It is distinct from Women's writing in English, wo ...

, specifically romantic comedy fiction novels. Her debut novel, '' A Total Waste of Makeup'', has been published in six languages and eight international editions to date, and is followed by a sequel, '' Misery Loves Cabernet''. Her next series began in 2010 with '' There's Cake in My Future'', which was followed in 2013 by '' Keep Calm and Carry a Big Drink''. Her fifth published novel, '' Love The Wine You're With'', which details the adventures of a group of friends who open a wine bar, was released June 13, 2017. Her next novel ''

Hangovers and Hot Flashes Kim Gruenenfelder is an American author and screenwriter. She became known for writing women's fiction, specifically chick lit, romantic comedy fiction novels. Her debut novel, ''A Total Waste of Makeup'', has been published in six languages an ...

'', released in December 2018, follows the lives of protagonists in their forties. Her latest novel, ''My Ex's Wedding'', was published in 2020. In addition to her published novels, she has written screenplays, a stage play, and was also a writer for the television show ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...

''. In 2016, she created the word "Eciah", which refers to a moment in your life when your future gets a lot brighter.

Early life

Gruenenfelder was born in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

, Missouri. Her father was Edmond Jacques Gruenenfelder III, a salesman. Her mother was Carol Campbell, a writer. Through her mother, Gruenenfelder is the niece of actor

J. Kenneth Campbell J. Kenneth Campbell is an American film, stage, and television actor who has been cast in over 80 roles. He was born in Flushing, New York. Campbell studied acting under theatrical fight director Patrick Crean, and was an acting instructor hims ...

and a descendant of

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

founding member

Clay Clement Clay Clement (May 19, 1888 – October 20, 1956) was an American stage, film, and TV actor. He appeared in more than 80 films between 1918 and 1947. Clement was one of the earliest members of the Screen Actors Guild.Fountain Valley High School Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) is a public high school in Fountain Valley, California. It is a part of the Huntington Beach Union High School District. History Fountain Valley was established in 1966. It is notable for its rivalry with Ed ...

at age sixteen. At age 16, Gruenenfelder began attending the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

. At age 20, Gruenenfelder graduated with a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in history, specializing in

women's history Women's history is the study of the role that Woman, women have played in history and Historiography, the methods required to do so. It includes the study of the history of the growth of woman's rights, women's rights throughout recorded history, ...

, from UCLA.

Career

Entertainment

Gruenenfelder's career in the entertainment industry started at the age of nineteen when she became a production assistant on the show ''Jeopardy!''. She became a researcher on the show at twenty and went on to become a screenwriter.

Novels

Gruenenfelder's first published novel was '' A Total Waste of Makeup'', followed up by '' Misery Loves Cabernet''. These are part of the Charlize series, focusing on a character named Charlize Edwards who starts the series by turning thirty. Depicting life in Hollywood and the entertainment industry, it includes characters like eccentric actor Drew Stanton. Gruenenfelder then started a series about a cake pull, with '' There's Cake in My Future'' and then '' Keep Calm and Carry a Big Drink''. These were her first novels focusing on three central characters per book, a trend she has continued. Her fifth published novel, different from the others in terms of series, is '' Love The Wine You're With'', detailing the adventures of a group of friends who open a wine bar in Echo Park. Deciding not to have a second book in the wine bar series, she moved on to a series about characters in their forties. Describing that publishers continuously told her nobody would read books about characters in their forties, she went forward with the book anyway. In December 2018, Gruenenfelder released ''

''. In 2016, Gruenenfelder coined the term "eciah". She defines it as "moment in your life when your future suddenly gets a lot brighter", according to her website eciah.com. She is the curator for this website, founding and creating it. Her personal eciah was when she found out she was pregnant with her first and only child.

Audiobooks

Under her married name Kim Smith, Gruenenfelder is a prolific audiobook director, specializing in

celebrity Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group due to the attention given to them by mass media. The word is also used to refer to famous individuals. A person may attain celebrity status by having great w ...

reads. Well regarded among

comedians A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop comedy. A comedian who ...

, she directed
The Jerusalem Syndrome: My Life as a Reluctant Messiah
' and
Attempting Normal
' by

Marc Maron Marc David Maron (born September 27, 1963) is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, writer, actor, and musician. In the 1990s and 2000s, Maron was a frequent guest on the ''Late Show with David Letterman'' and appeared more than forty times ...

,
Mustache Shenanigans
' by

Jay Chandrasekhar Jayanth Jambulingam Chandrasekhar (born April 9, 1968) is an American comedian, film director, screenwriter, actor and editor. He is best known for his work with the sketch comedy group Broken Lizard and for directing and starring in the Broken ...

,
Life Will Be the Death of Me: ...and You Too!
' by

Chelsea Handler Chelsea Joy Handler (born February 25, 1975) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer, television host, and producer. She hosted the late-night talk show '' Chelsea Lately'' on the E! network from 2007 to 2014 and released a documenta ...

, and '' Dear Girls'' by

Ali Wong Alexandra Dawn Wong (born April 19, 1982) is an American comedian and actress. She is best known for her Netflix stand-up specials ''Baby Cobra'' (2016), ''Hard Knock Wife'' (2018), ''Don Wong'' (2022), and ''Single Lady'' (2024). The last of t ...

. She has also directed audiobooks for dozens of other public figures, including

Tyra Banks Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973), also known as BanX, is an American model, television personality, producer, writer, and actress. Born in Inglewood, California, she began her career as a model at the age of 15 and was the first Black A ...

Jennifer Beals Jennifer Beals (born December 19, 1963) is an American actress. She made her film debut in ''My Bodyguard'' (1980), before receiving critical acclaim for her performance as Alexandra Owens in ''Flashdance'' (1983), for which she won NAACP Image ...

Lilia Buckingham Lilia Buckingham (born April 9, 2003) is an American Internet personality, actress, dancer, writer, and producer. Early life and education Buckingham was born and raised in Beverly Hills, California, to Jane (née Rinzler) and Marcus Buckin ...

Jaina Lee Ortiz Jaina Lee Ortiz (born Jessica Ortiz; November 20, 1986) is an American actress and dancer. She is known for her starring role as Detective Annalise Villa on the Fox police drama ''Rosewood'' from 2015 to 2017. From 2018 to 2024, she starred as ...

(reading for

Sonia Sotomayor Sonia Maria Sotomayor (, ; born June 25, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, and has served since ...

Samira Wiley Samira Wiley is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Poussey Washington in the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019) and as Moira in the Hulu dystopian drama series ''The Handmaid's Tal ...

Curtis Armstrong Curtis Johnathan Armstrong (born November 27, 1953) is an American actor. He is best known for playing the role of Booger in the '' Revenge of the Nerds'' films, Herbert Viola on the TV series '' Moonlighting'', Miles Dalby in the film '' Risky ...

, and

Robbie Rogers Robert Hampton Rogers III (born May 12, 1987) is an American former professional soccer player. He played as a winger and as a left back. Rogers has also represented the United States men's national soccer team. In February 2013, Rogers came ou ...

. As Kim Gruenenfelder Smith, she directed the audiobook for

Nicholas Kristof Nicholas Donabet Kristof (born April 27, 1959) is an American journalist and political commentator. A winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, he is a regular CNN contributor and an op-ed columnist for ''The New York Times''. Born in Chicago, Kristof wa ...

and

Sheryl WuDunn Sheryl WuDunn (born November 16, 1959) is an American business executive, writer, lecturer, and Pulitzer Prize winner. A senior banker focusing on growth companies in technology, new media and the emerging markets, WuDunn also works with double ...

's ''Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope'', which was narrated by

Jennifer Garner Jennifer Anne Garner (born April 17, 1972) is an American actress. Born in Houston, Texas and raised in Charleston, West Virginia, Garner studied theater at Denison University and began acting as an understudy for the Roundabout Theatre Company ...

. Gruenenfelder directed the audiobook for

Tara Westover Tara Westover (born September 27, 1986) is an American memoirist, essayist and historian. Her memoir '' Educated'' (2018) debuted at No. 1 on ''The New York Times'' bestseller list and was a finalist for a number of national awards, including the ...

memoir A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autob ...

Educated Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education also fol ...

'', narrated by

Julia Whelan Julia May Whelan (born May 8, 1984) is an American actress, narrator and author. As an actress, she is best known for her role as Grace Manning on the television family drama series ''Once and Again'' (1999–2002), and her co-starring role in th ...

. The audiobook was recognized by the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

for 2019

Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults The American Library Association's Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults, formerly Selected Audiobooks for Young Adults, is a recommendation list of audiobooks presented yearly by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) division. The Yo ...

, as well as being named

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or ru ...

's 2019 Best Memoir of the Year. Most notably, ''Educated'' received the

Audie Award for Autobiography or Memoir The Audie Award for Autobiography or Memoir is one of the Audie Awards presented annually by the Audio Publishers Association (APA). It awards excellence in narration, production, and content for an audiobook autobiography or memoir A memoir (; ...

in 2019. Multiple other audiobooks directed by Gruenenfelder have been nominated for

Audie Awards The Audie Awards (, rhymes with "gaudy"; abbreviated from ''audiobook''), or simply the Audies, are awards for achievement in spoken word, particularly audiobook narration and audiodrama performance, published in the United States of America. They ...

. Gruenenfelder directed ''Marriage Be Hard'' by Kevin and Melissa Fredericks in 2022, which was nominated for the

Audie Award for Faith-Based Fiction and Nonfiction The Audie Award for Faith-Based Fiction and Nonfiction is one of the Audie Awards presented annually by the Audio Publishers Association (APA). It awards excellence in narration, production, and content for a religious Religion is a range of s ...

. ''Marriage Be Hard'' was also nominated for an

NAACP Image Award The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. The over 40 ...

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

Politics

In January 2018, Gruenenfelder announced a campaign for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

, to represent

California's 28th congressional district California's 28th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California, in Los Angeles County. The district is regarded as a Democratic stronghold and has been held by the Democratic Party since 2003 and is curren ...

. A member of the Democratic Party, Gruenenfelder challenged incumbent

Adam Schiff Adam Bennett Schiff (born June 22, 1960) is an American lawyer, author, and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from California, a seat he has held since 2024. A m ...

on a platform that included

single-payer healthcare Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare, in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer"). Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from pr ...

, opposition to foreign wars, and the creation of a Federal Ballot Initiative to nationally allow for proposition-based direct democracy. She also expressed support for

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms and ammunition by civilians. Most countries allow civilians to own firearms, bu ...

climate change mitigation Climate change mitigation (or decarbonisation) is action to limit the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that cause climate change. Climate change mitigation actions include energy conservation, conserving energy and Fossil fuel phase-out, repl ...

DACA Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a United States immigration policy that allows some individuals who, on June 15, 2012, were physically present in the United States with no lawful immigration status after having entered the cou ...

, and public charter schools. On March 3, Gruenenfelder officially withdrew from the race. Gruenenfelder endorsed

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

, and fundraised for his campaign. Gruenenfelder endorsed

Seth Moulton Seth Wilbur Moulton (born October 24, 1978) is an American politician and former Marine Corps officer who has been the U.S. representative for Massachusetts's 6th congressional district since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, his distr ...

in the 2020 Democratic primary. A supporter of

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

, Gruenenfelder participated in protests in Los Angeles after the

murder of George Floyd On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black American man, was murdered in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old White police officer. Floyd had been arrested after a store clerk reported that he made a purchase using a c ...

Bibliography

* '' A Total Waste of Makeup'',

St. Martin's Press St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan in New York City. It is headquartered in the Equitable Building (New York City), Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishe ...

, 2005 * '' Misery Loves Cabernet'', St. Martin's Press, 2009 * '' There's Cake in My Future'', St. Martin's Press, 2010 * '' Keep Calm and Carry a Big Drink'', St. Martin's Press, 2013 * '' Love The Wine You're With'', St. Martin's Press, 2017 * ''Hangovers & Hot Flashes'', Geoghegan & Burke Publishing, 2018 * ''My Ex's Wedding'', Geoghegan & Burke Publishing, 2020

Personal life

Gruenenfelder's husband is writer and director Brian Smith. They have one son,

Alex Alex is a given name. Similar names are Alexander, Alexandra, Alexey or Alexis. People Multiple * Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Cook (disambiguation), multiple people * Alex Forsyth (disambiguation), multiple people * Al ...

. Gruenenfelder lives in Los Angeles, California.

References

External links

*
Kim Gruenefelder
on

Ballotpedia Ballotpedia is a nonprofit and nonpartisan online political encyclopedia that covers federal, state, and local politics, elections, and public policy in the United States. The website was founded in 2007. Ballotpedia is sponsored by the Lucy Bur ...

Kim Gruenenfelder Official website

Kim Gruenenfelder at Macmillan.com

Kim Gruenenfelder at Goodreads.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gruenenfelder, Kim 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American women writers American chick lit writers American women novelists Candidates in the 2018 United States elections Chick lit writers Fountain Valley High School alumni Living people Novelists from California Novelists from Los Angeles Novelists from Missouri People from California Writers from Los Angeles People from Missouri Writers from Missouri Writers from St. Louis University of California, Los Angeles alumni