Twenty-five years ago, Ann Brashares released her beloved YA novel The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: the tale of four best friends, one enchanted pair of jeans, and the bond that weaves them together. The story blossomed into a five-book series with a companion novel, selling more than nine million copies; it also inspired two hit movies. Delacorte Press is celebrating the anniversary with a limited collector’s edition, due September 29, which features a new hardcase design, sprayed edges, character art, a ribbon marker, and a foreword by actor Amber Tamblyn, who appeared in the film adaptations. A deluxe paperback boxed set will follow in March 2027. We invited Brashares and her editor Wendy Loggia, VP and publisher at Delacorte, to chat about the initial spark behind the series and why it continues to mean so much to readers.

Wendy Loggia: Before there were millions of readers, two movies, and four girls who became part of pop culture, there was an idea about a pair of pants traveling between friends. Do you want to talk a little bit about the origin story?

Ann Brashares: I had been thinking a lot about writing a multiple-character epic friendship. But I would say that the real starting point was a conversation with my coworker at the time—the wonderful writer Jodi Anderson—who talked about a pair of jeans that she’d shared with some friends. And then the true spark was hearing Carmen’s voice in my head and why this story and friendship mattered to her.

Loggia: I’m curious if you and I remember the early days of the book in the same way. We had no idea what was coming. It was just this book that we all really loved and wanted to get right.

Brashares: I have a memory of you calling me after you’d read the first draft of the manuscript. I was so anxious, and it felt so raw, having never written a book before. You said something like, “I love it”—something so simple, and I felt so relieved. I thought, “If Wendy loves it, the book will work.”

Loggia: Much of that first summer in the book, the girls are physically apart; yet the novel is really about connection. Do you think that tension between becoming your own person and remaining connected to the people you love is part of why the book has endured?

Brashares: I think so. It is an important idea: the best friendships are the ones that give you confidence and unconditional love to be able to become the people that you and they want to be.

Loggia: If you could spend the summer now with one of the girls, who would you hang out with?

Brashares: My motherly side says you can’t choose favorites. I would have different experiences and joys with each of them. I’d love to have all of them at once.

Loggia: What has moved you about watching the readership grow up over the years?

Brashares: Connecting to so many readers and sharing this fictional world, and the ideas in it.

I have always loved reading, and the most important reading time of my life was as a young adult—the absolute immersive pleasure of it. It moves me to think that I was able to create that kind of pleasure for others.

Loggia: So, after 25 years, what does “Sisterhood Is Forever” mean to you?

Brashares: Sisterhood is the friendships with other women through your whole life, all the ups and downs and the

wonderful parts and the really, really hard parts. That is forever. It remains central and so appreciated in my life.

Loggia: Such a beautiful answer. I think the power of friendship is something that endures, and it is

why your book has endured. We’re still talking about the pants 25 years later, which is pretty wonderful.