Hayley Gene Penner - People You Follow: A Memoir

This is Hayley in book form. So perfectly written, with her humour giving a light to situations that dont always have one. Beautifully written words for a good laugh and the occasional necessary cry.

KAIA GERBER, model and actress

Hayleys journey to find self-love is both heartbreaking and humorous. I recognized my own younger self and how we, as women, struggle to find our value through the eyes of others. While Hayleys story may be more dramatic than others, we are rooting for her as she finds herself and the power of no.

CINDY CRAWFORD, model and actress

A good songwriter is someone who makes the listener feel like the words were stolen right out of their mouth, and Hayley has that same quality as an author. People You Follow left me feeling colourful, excited, empowered, completely vulnerable, a little heartbroken, and incredibly inspired.

CHARLOTTE LAWRENCE, singer-songwriter and model

People You Follow is a fucked-up Alice in Wonderland journey down the rabbit hole of L.A.s most subtly toxic industry, and its also funny, brilliant, coy, playful, and wise. I feel so lucky that Hayley is here to express how hard dating in Hollywood is for the bunch of us, and Im also glad that young women can read about her emotional pratfalls and save themselves the same pain as they work to become artists as skilled as she is.

LENA DUNHAM, author of Not That Kind of Girl

Hayleys memoir masquerades as a comedic take on a young woman discovering and defining her sexuality. You are so distracted by the breezy comedy of the insane true-life stories that you dont see the gut punches coming.

BILL LAWRENCE, writer/creator of Scrubs, Cougar Town, and Spin City

Reading Hayley Gene Penners memoir felt like I was with my funniest, naughtiest friend, who came over to drink tequila and tell me secret stories. Each cautionary tale is full of dark humour, desire, and sexy sex in the most vulnerable and authentic way. I loved every minute.

CHRISTA MILLER, actress and model

A note to the reader:

Listen Along While You Read!

People You Follow is also the name of Hayley Gene Penners debut album. Many of the stories in this book served as inspiration for her songs. As you read, you will find links to the tracks on her album that correspond to each chapter. Click the icons to listen either on Soundcloud or on Apple Music with your Apple Music subscription.

Link to full album here:

Listen on Soundcloud

Listen on Apple Music

a memoir

Track - People You Follow

hayley gene penner

Copyright Hayley Gene Penner, 2020

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purpose of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

Publisher: Scott Fraser | Acquiring editor: Rachel Spence | Editor: Susan Fitzgerald

Cover designers: Danica Penner-Vargek, Laura Boyle

Cover illustration: Danica Penner-Vargek

Cover photographer: Kendra Penner

Printer: Marquis Book Printing Inc.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: People you follow: a memoir / Hayley Gene Penner.

Names: Penner, Hayley Gene, 1985- author

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200196650 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200197541 | ISBN 9781459747142 (softcover) | ISBN 9781459747159 (PDF) | ISBN 9781459747166 (EPUB)

Subjects: LCSH: Penner, Hayley Gene, 1985- | LCSH: SingersCanadaBiography. | LCSH: Composers CanadaBiography.

Classification: LCC ML420.P413 A3 2020 | DDC 782.42164092dc23

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Ontario, through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and Ontario Creates, and the Government of Canada.

Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

The publisher is not responsible for websites or their content unless they are owned by the publisher.

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For Lily, for later.

Track - Lily

Anne Lamott asked me to talk about my packed school lunches. She, of course, doesnt realize she asked me, specifically, to do this. She asked all of us who read Bird by Bird. But since I am one of that us, she did ask me.

Firstly, nothing was as good as no packed lunch at all. Nothing was as delicious as a crumpled ten-dollar bill passed back from the front seat of our grey Venture minivan, passed back with a look that said, Dont get used to this. Its back to bag lunches tomorrow.

That crumpled ten-dollar bill meant fries dusted with neon-orange seasoning salt. That ten-dollar bill meant friends reaching over our paper plates. That ten-dollar bill meant power and popularity. That ten-dollar bill gave us a peek into adulthood and the first swells of pride surrounding money.

Some days my lunch was a true surprise, especially when I missed the opportunity to badger my parents for an extra package of Dunkaroos or Gushers, or when I was too busy upstairs trying to tame my hair or wish away a zit to bully them into making better choices while assembling my lunch.