Louise Rennison, best known for the wildly popular “Confessions of Georgia Nicholson” series, has died at the age of 63. Published in 2000, Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging quickly launched Rennison’s career. Told in diary format, the book, inspired loosely by the author’s adolescence, related the misadventures of Georgia Nicolson, a hilariously self-deprecating 14-year-old whose wry humor invited comparisons to Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary. The novel also brought Rennison critical acclaim: in addition to winning the Nestlé Smarties Bronze Award, it was a Michael L. Printz Honor book and was named an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults, among many other honors. In 2008, the book was adapted into the film Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. Rennison followed up the book with nine other “Georgia Nicholson” titles, which tackled, with the author’s trademark forthright humor, subjects such as body image, romance, and family. Born in 1951, Rennison grew up in Leeds, England. As an adult, she held a variety of jobs prior to embarking upon a career in the theater. Her one-woman show Stevie Wonder Felt My Face was a success, winning awards at the Edinburgh Festival and spawning a BBC2 television special. The show was also responsible for Rennison’s eventual success as a writer; an editor who saw Stevie Wonder suggested that Rennison try her hand at a book. Other shows included Bob Marley's Gardener Sold My Friend and Never Eat Anything Bigger than Your Head. Her comedic talents weren’t limited to the “Georgia Nicholson” books—in 2000, Withering Tights was published in the UK, kicking off the “Misadventures of Tallulah Casey,” a series centered on Georgia’s younger cousin. The spin-off was widely read, and Withering Tights won the Roald Dahl Funny Prize. Though Rennison’s work had a decidedly British flavor—terms such as snogging and nuddypants were peppered throughout—her books were best sellers in the United States as well as in the UK. In an interview with BookD, Rennison credited some of her popularity in the states with her American editor’s decision to publish the books in the United States with a glossary rather than tweaking the slang. She described some of the fan mail she received: “We love your books. Will u send us some more British words, because we go to cafés and we practice being British.” In a statement, HarperCollins UK said, “Nobody wrote for teenagers like she did, she understood them, their lives and their extraordinary and powerful friendships. In life, as in her writing, she brought joy and laughter. Our thoughts are with her family, friends and the readers whose lives she has touched for more than twenty years.”