Cecily von Ziegesar

Cecily von Ziegesar was born in New York City into a German noble family. She is the daughter of Franz Albrecht von Ziegesar, the CEO and Chairman of Bowne & Co., and his second wife, Olivia James. She is the half-sister of writer Peter von Ziegesar.{{cite web|last=Neyfakh|first=Leon|title=Gossip Girl Creator's Half-Brother Writing Family Memoir For St. Martin's|url=https://observer.com/2008/11/igossip-girli-creators-halfbrother-writing-family-memoir-for-st-martins/|date=November 24, 2008|website=Observer.com}} Her childhood dream was to grow up to be a ballerina; she began lessons at age three and auditioned for the School of American Ballet at age eight, but was rejected.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/fashion/21von-ziegesar.html |work=The New York Times |first=Cecily von |last=Ziegesar |title=At 'Nutcracker' With My Family, a Duck Amid the Swans |date=December 18, 2008}} As a teenager, she commuted from Connecticut to Manhattan at 6:00 a.m. every day to attend The Nightingale-Bamford School.{{cite web|url=https://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/books/12058/|title=Psst, Serena is a slut. Pass it on.|website=NYMag.com|date=May 19, 2005 }} After graduating from Nightingale, von Ziegesar attended Colby College. Then she spent a year in Budapest working for a local radio station. She then returned to the United States to study creative writing at the University of Arizona, only to drop out shortly thereafter.

In New York City, while working at book-packaging firm Alloy Entertainment, she became inspired to create the Gossip Girl series, which presents a view of high-end teenage lifestyles. The series climbed to the top of The New York Times Best-Sellers list in 2002. A spin-off book series, The It Girl, made the list in 2005.

The Constance Billard{{Sic}} School for Girls is based on an exaggerated version of Ziegesar's own alma mater, Nightingale.

In October 2011, Ziegesar released a spin-off of her first novel: Psycho Killer.

Gossip Girl was adapted for television by The CW in 2007. Though fans of the book series criticized it for veering away from the book in plot and character personalities, Ziegesar stated that the major plot outline remained true to her vision, and that she was pleased that "at least it takes place in New York City".{{cite web |url=https://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Story?id%3D3628866%26page%3D2 |title='Gossip Girl' Triumphs Over 'O.C.,' Say New York Preppies |website=ABC News |access-date=2009-07-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217174608/http://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Story?id=3628866&page=2 |archive-date=December 17, 2008 |df=mdy }} On May 16, 2011, Ziegesar herself made a cameo appearance in the fourth season finale.{{cite magazine |url=http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/05/16/gossip-girl-cecily-von-ziegesar/ |title='Gossip Girl' author Cecily von Ziegesar guests on season finale – EXCLUSIVE PHOTO |last=Gonzalez |first=Sandra |date=May 16, 2011 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=May 17, 2011}}

In December 2009, Yen Press announced that it was working with South Korean artist Baek Hye-Kyung to create a graphic novel adaptation of the series titled Gossip Girl: For Your Eyes Only. Rather than adapting the original novels, however, the graphic novels will feature original stories with the same characters. It will be serialized in the company's anthology magazine Yen Plus, with the first chapter appearing in the January 2010 issue.{{cite web |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2009-12-04/yen-press-to-adapt-ziegesar-gossip-girl-novels |title=Yen Press to Adapt von Ziegesar's Gossip Girl Novels |publisher=Anime News Network |date=December 4, 2009 |access-date=December 4, 2009}}

Von Ziegesar resides in the Columbia Street Waterfront District, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, with her husband Richard Griggs, who is Chief Operating Officer of the Judd Foundation,{{cite web|url=http://juddfoundation.org/foundation/about/|title=About - Judd Foundation}} and their children Agnes Belle von Ziegesar Griggs and Oscar von Ziegesar Griggs.{{cite web|url=http://www.colby.edu/colby.mag/issues/current/articles.php?articleid=410&dept=editorial&issueid=36|title=Colby Magazine|website=Colby Magazine}}

{{main article| Gossip Girl (novel series)}}

1. Gossip Girl (2002)
2. You Know You Love Me (2002)
3. All I Want Is Everything (2003)
4. Because I'm Worth It (2003)
5. I Like It Like That (2004)
6. ''You're the One That I Want (2004)
7. Nobody Does It Better (2005)
8. Nothing Can Keep Us Together (2005)
9. Only in Your Dreams (2006) (written by ghost-writer)
10. Would I Lie To You? (2006) (written by ghost-writer)
11. Don't You Forget About Me (2007) (written by ghost-writer)
12. I Will Always Love You (2009) (written by ghost-writer)

• PREQUEL It Had To Be You (2007)
• Psycho Killer (Spin-Off from the original first novel; October 2011)

{{main article|The It Girl (book series)}} This series was written by a ghost-writer, with guidance from Cecily von Ziegesar.

1. The It Girl
2. Notorious
3. Reckless
4. Unforgettable
5. Lucky
6. Tempted
7. Infamous
8. Adored
9. Devious
10. Classic

{{main article|Gossip Girl (novel series)#Gossip Girl: The Carlyles|l1=Gossip Girl: The Carlyles}} This series is actually written by Annabelle Vestry, though Cecily von Ziegesar's name is on the spine and front.

1. Gossip Girl: The Carlyles (2008)
2. You Just Can't Get Enough (2008)
3. Take A Chance on Me (2009)
4. Love the One You're With (2009)

1. Cum Laude (June 1, 2010 from Hyperion){{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/arts/06arts-GOSSIPGIRLAU_BRF.html?scp=2&sq=cecily%20von%20ziegesar%20cum%20laude&st=cse |work=The New York Times |first=Felicia R. |last=Lee |title='Gossip Girl' Author Aims Older |date=June 6, 2008}}{{cite web |url=http://www.hyperioncatalogs.com/Hyperion/1279_1385_313936393230.htm |title=Cum Laude |access-date=2009-12-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130103121132/http://www.hyperioncatalogs.com/Hyperion/1279_1385_313936393230.htm |archive-date=January 3, 2013 |df=mdy-all }} republished under the name "Class" in 2011.

1. Cobble Hill, 2020.{{Cite magazine |date=2020-11-16 |title="Gossip Girl Was Me": Cecily von Ziegesar Talks Manhattan vs. Cobble Hill |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2020/11/gossip-girl-was-me-cecily-von-ziegesar-talks-manhattan-vs-cobble-hill |access-date=2022-12-04 |magazine=Vanity Fair |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Reid |first=Kiley |date=2020-11-10 |title=Welcome to Brooklyn, Where the People Are as Unique as Their Brownstones |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/10/books/review/cecily-von-ziegesar-cobble-hill.html |access-date=2022-12-04 |issn=0362-4331}}

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.gossipgirl.co.uk/ UK Gossip Girl Website]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081115215642/http://www.mtv.ca/news/article.jhtml?id=11471 MTVCanada]

{{CvG}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziegesar, Cecily Von}}

Category:1970 births

Category:Living people

Category:American expatriates in Hungary

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:American women novelists

Category:Gossip Girl

Category:Writers from Brooklyn

Category:People from Fairfield County, Connecticut

Category:American writers of young adult literature

Category:Colby College alumni

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:American women writers of young adult literature

Category:Novelists from New York (state)

Category:American people of German descent

Category:German untitled nobility

Cecily

Category:Nightingale-Bamford School alumni