Her Girls character dreams of being a published author, and Lena Dunham is living the dream. The HBO star, who also writes, directs and produces the hit comedy, has scored a $3.7 million deal with Random House to publish her first nonfiction book.
Titled Not That Girl, Dunham's debut book will be a collection of humorous essays that cover topics such as body image, travel, death, food, crying at work and losing her virginity. One chapter, according to the New York Times, is described as "an account of some radically and hilariously inappropriate ways I have been treated at work/by professionals because of my age and gender." Another offers "hard-earned fashion lessons from the size 10 who went to the Met Ball."
The book started a gigantic bidding war between publishers, in part because of Dunham's elaborate 66-page illustrated proposal, designed to look like a thrift-store paperback. Random House, the publisher Dunham ultimately selected, described the book as "in the tradition of Helen Gurley Brown, David Sedaris and Nora Ephron." (In other words: funny but true!)
"We’re thrilled to welcome Lena to Random House," the publisher said in a statement. "Her skill on the page as a writer is remarkable—fresh, wise, so assured. She is that rare literary talent that will only grow from strength to strength and we look forward to helping her build a long career as an author."
Dunham, 26, said in her own statement that she's looking forward to "digging deep" and writing "the most thoughtful and personal book I can." We're pretty sure there's nothing Lena Dunham can't do at this point, so we'll just look forward to reading it!