Emily Giffin was born in Baltimore, Maryland on March 20, 1972. She attended Naperville North High School in Naperville, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), where she was a member of a creative writing club and served as editor-in-chief for the school's newspaper. Giffin earned her undergraduate degree at Wake Forest University, where she also served as manager of the basketball team. She then attended law school at the University of Virginia.
After graduating from law school in 1997, she moved to Manhattan and worked in the litigation department of Winston & Strawn. However, she determined to seriously pursue her writing. In 2001, she moved to London and began writing full time. Her first young adult novel, Lily Holding True, was rejected by eight publishers. Giffin began a new novel, then titled Rolling the Dice, which became the bestselling novel Something Borrowed.
Giffin found an agent in 2002 and signed a two book deal with St. Martin's Press. While doing revisions on Something Borrowed, she found the inspiration for a sequel, Something Blue. Something Borrowed was released spring 2004. It received positive reviews and made the extended New York Times bestsellers list. Something Blue followed in 2005, and in 2006, her third, Baby Proof, made its debut. She spent 2007 finishing her fourth novel, Love the One You're With.
Her novels have been international bestsellers.Three appeared simultaneously on USA Today's Top 150 list."USA Top 150 books" Something Borrowed was adapted into a major feature film (released on May 6, 2011), and its sequel novel Something Blue has also been optioned for film.