Gossip Girl is an American
young adult novel series written by
Cecily von Ziegesar and published by
Little, Brown and Company, a subsidiary of the
Hachette Group. The series revolves around the lives and romances of the privileged teenagers at the Constance Billard School for Girls, an elite private school in
New York City's
Upper East Side. The books primarily focus on best friends
Blair Waldorf and
Serena van der Woodsen, whose experiences are among those chronicled by the eponymous gossip
blogger. The novel series is based on von Ziegesar's experiences at
Nightingale-Bamford School and on what she heard from friends. The first novel,
Gossip Girl, was released in April 2002; the eleventh novel of the series was released in May 2007, with a prequel novel following in October 2007. Another follow-up novel, in which the characters return home from college for the holidays, was released in
hardback format in November 2009. The original novel became the inspiration for the
Gossip Girl teen drama television series, created by
Josh Schwartz and
Stephanie Savage, which premiered on
The CW Television Network on September 19, 2007. There are now 13 novels.