Karyn Bosnak is the author of the books Save Karyn: One Shopaholic’s Journey to Debt and Back and 20 Times a Lady: A Novel. Born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, she didn’t begin writing until her late 20s.

In 2000, Karyn left the windy city and moved to New York to pursue a career as a television producer. After quickly accumulating $20,000 in credit card debt—all from shopping—she suddenly lost her job and found herself unable to pay it back.

No longer able to afford the finer things in life but unwilling to move back home, Karyn relocated from Manhattan to Brooklyn and began to change the way she lived. She also had a stroke of genius: If 20,000 people gave her just one dollar, all of her debt would be gone.

In June 2002 Karyn started savekaryn.com, a humorous website on which she not only chronicled her struggles with debt, but also brazenly asked strangers to help pay it off. News of the website quickly spread around the world and after twenty short weeks, two million hits, and over $13,000 in cash from kind-hearted strangers, Karyn’s debt was gone.

In 2003 Karyn wrote about her credit card debt experience in the book Save Karyn: One Shopaholic’s Journey to Debt and Back. It was published in the United States by HarperCollins and is now available in over ten languages around the world. She has since donated the same amount of money she received from the original website to charity.

With the success of her first book, Karyn abandoned the television industry all together and began writing full-time. Her first novel, 20 Times a Lady: A Novel, was published in 2006 to great reviews. It’s currently in preproduction for a feature film; Anna Faris is set to star.

Stories about Karyn have appeared in magazines and newspapers around the world including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, People, Time, Glamour and Cosmopolitan. She has been a guest on hundreds of radio and television shows including NBC’s Today show and 20/20.

Today Karyn is still living in Brooklyn with her dog, Beverly, and her cat, Elvis. When she’s not writing, she enjoys traveling, knitting, photography and spending time with her family. She’s currently at work on a third book.