Heidi Murkoff is the author of the world's best-selling pregnancy and parenting series, What to Expect, that began with What to Expect When You're Expecting. She is also the creator of WhatToExpect.com and founder of the What to Expect Foundation. Time magazine named Heidi one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World for 2011. In 2005, she was inducted into the Books For A Better Life Hall of Fame.
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Heidi Murkoff conceived the idea for What to Expect When You're Expecting during her first pregnancy, when she couldn't find answers to her questions or reassurance for her worries in the books she’d turned to for much-needed advice. Determined to write a guide that would help other expectant parents sleep better at night, Murkoff delivered the proposal for What to Expect When You're Expecting just hours before delivering her daughter, Emma.
Dubbed the 'pregnancy bible', the iconic The New York Times bestseller is now in its fourth edition, with more than 17 million copies in print. According to USA Today, What to Expect When You're Expecting is read by 93 percent of women who read a pregnancy book. USA Today also named What to Expect When You're Expecting one of the most influential books of the last 25 years.
The sequel, What to Expect: The First Year, has sold over 10 million copies and is in its 2nd edition. Other titles in the series include What to Eat When You're Expecting, What to Expect Before You're Expecting (a complete preconception plan), and the newest member of the What to Expect series: What to Expect: the Second Year, the must-have guide for parents of toddlers. The What to Expect books have sold more than 34 million copies in the U.S. alone and are published in more than 30 languages.
Murkoff's What to Expect Kids picture book series for preschoolers include What to Expect When Mommy's Having a Baby, What to Expect When the New Baby Comes Home, What to Expect When You Use the Potty, and What to Expect at Preschool.
In 2005, Murkoff expanded the What to Expect (WTE) brand online with www.whattoexpect.com as a companion to the books. In 2009, WTE went mobile with the WTE Pregnancy Tracker (the most popular pregnancy app in the world), the WTE Fertility Tracker, the WTE Baby Name Finder, and the WTE First Year Tracker.
Murkoff created the What to Expect Foundation (whattoexpect.org) as a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping underserved families have healthy pregnancies, safe deliveries, and healthy, happy babies. The WTE Foundation's Baby Basics program has helped over 500,000 expectant moms-to-be in need and their babies and is currently preparing a global initiative in an effort to help moms in need around the world.
Murkoff has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The CBS Early Show, Oprah, BBC Breakfast, and Good Morning Australia. In May 2012, Lionsgate plans to release a film adaptation of What to Expect When You're Expecting starring Cameron Diaz. Murkoff and her husband, Erik, will serve as executive producers and Kirk Jones will direct from a script by Shauna Cross.
Murkoff and her husband, Erik, have two children and live in Southern California.