Publication Order of Standalone Novels
| The Perks of Being a Wallflower | 1999 |
| Imaginary Friend | 2019 |
About Stephen Chbosky
Stephen Chbosky (born 1970) is an American novelist, screenwriter and film director, best known for the coming-of-age novel “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” (1999) and for writing and directing its 2012 film adaptation. His second novel, the psychological horror story “Imaginary Friend”, followed in 2019.
Chbosky was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 25 January 1970 and grew up in the suburb of Upper St. Clair, graduating from Upper St. Clair High School in 1988. Around that time he met Stewart Stern, the screenwriter of “Rebel Without a Cause”, who became a friend and mentor. He graduated from the screenwriting programme at the University of Southern California in 1992, then wrote, directed and acted in the independent film “The Four Corners of Nowhere” (1995), which was accepted by the Sundance Film Festival.
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” is told in letters by a teenager who calls himself Charlie, and follows him through his first year of high school in a Pittsburgh suburb in the early 1990s. Chbosky has described the book as partly drawn from his own memories. It was published by MTV Books in 1999 and was an immediate success with teenage readers, with more than two million copies in print by 2013 and editions in 31 languages. Its treatment of teenage sexuality and drug use has also put it on the American Library Association’s list of the ten most frequently challenged books in several years.
His film of the novel, starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller, was released in 2012. It won the Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature and earned him a Writers Guild Award nomination for adapted screenplay. His other screen work includes the screenplay for the film of the musical “Rent” (2005), the CBS drama “Jericho” (2006 to 2008), which he co-created, and a rewrite of the script for Disney’s live-action “Beauty and the Beast” (2017). He has also directed “Wonder” (2017), “Dear Evan Hansen” (2021) and “Nonnas” (2025).
“Imaginary Friend” was published by Grand Central Publishing on 1 October 2019, twenty years after his debut, and entered the New York Times bestseller list in the top ten. Chbosky also edited the short story anthology “Pieces” (2000). He lives in Los Angeles.