Marie Lamba, C’84, majored in English while at Penn and also says she “invented” a second major - literary art - that allowed her to take all the writing and fine arts classes she wanted. As a part-time employee in the library, she says she would “disappear for hours in the fiction section” while searching for missing volumes.

Back at Penn for Alumni Weekend and her 25-year reunion, Lamba returns as a full-fledged author and novelist. She discusses and signs copies of her first book, “What I Meant…” May 16 at the Penn Bookstore.

A young adult novel set in Doylestown, “What I Meant…” is the story of 15-year-old Sangeet “Sang” Jumnal, who is crazy about a guy her dad, who is from India, won’t let her date until she’s sixteen. And her mom, who is American and usually sticks up for her, suddenly thinks Sang is a liar, a thief and bulimic. Sang must find a way to prove her innocence and make her parents see her for who she really is, someone who is pretty dependable, relatively honest and totally ready to date.

The event takes place from 2 to 4 p.m. For more information, call 215-898-7595 or visit www.upenn.edu/bookstore. For more information on Penn’s Alumni Weekend, visit www.alumni.upenn.edu/alumniweekend2009.