Allen, Jenny

PERSONAL:

Married Jules Feiffer (cartoonist and playwright); children: Halley, Julie.

ADDRESSES:

Home— York, NY.

CAREER:

Journalist and writer. Formerly a staff reporter at Life; has also performed as a stand-up comic in New York.

WRITINGS:

The Long Chalkboard and Other Stories, illustrated by husband, Jules Feiffer, Pantheon Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals, including the New York Times, New York, and Esquire; contributing editor at Good Housekeeping.

SIDELIGHTS:

"I had this notion for a story," Jenny Allen told National Public Radio (NPR) contributor Susan Stamberg in an article that appears on the NPR's Web site. "It was just a little yarn that occurred to me in a perhaps fey way. I didn't know what form it would take." The final form her idea did take is titled The Long Chalkboard and Other Stories, illustrated by world renowned cartoonist Jules Feiffer, Allen's husband and a Pulitzer Prize winner. The Long Chalkboard and Other Stories is composed of three fables aimed at the modern adult reader. Focusing on city dwellers, the fables feature a young mother in an apartment building where she is viewed as a tabula rasa, a fight between children's book authors, and a chili recipe so bad that it makes a woman famous. Terry England, writing in the Sante Fe New Mexican, noted that the author's "fables are satirical and clever, with enough humanity to hold our interest." A Publishers Weekly contributor commented: "These three stories will interest socially savvy young adult readers—young book-worms rather than hipsters—and liberal-leaning adults who enjoy a wry laugh." Several reviewers also noted the complementary aspects of the collaboration between husband and wife. For example, Booklist contributor Carl Hays wrote that the author's "insightful, uplifting tales are perfectly complemented by Feiffer's wry … sketches."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 15, 2006, Carl Hays, review of The Long Chalkboard and Other Stories, p. 35.

Publishers Weekly, September 18, 2006, review of The Long Chalkboard and Other Stories, p. 43.

Sante Fe New Mexican, December 24, 2006, p. SU-17, Terry England, review of The Long Chalkboard and Other Stories.

ONLINE

Daily Candy,http://www.dailycandy.com/ (October 9, 2006), "Long Story," profile of author and husband.

NPR,http://www.npr.org/ (July 24, 2007), Susan Stamberg, "Feiffer, Allen Drawn Together by ‘Long Chalkboard.’"

Random House Web site,http://www.randomhouse.com/ (July 24, 2007), brief profile of author.