Judy Blume
- Category : Writer
- Type : MGE
- Profile : 6/2 - Role Model / Hermit
- Definition : Triple Split
- Incarnation Cross : LAX Revolution 1
Biography
Judy Blume (born Judith Sussman; February 12, 1938) is an American writer. She has written many novels for children and young adults which have exceeded sales of 80 million and been translated into 31 languages. Blume's novels for teenagers were among the first to tackle racism (Iggie's House), menstruation (Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.), divorce (It's Not the End of the World, Just As Long As We're Together), bullying (Blubber), masturbation (Deenie, Then Again, Maybe I Won't, and originally Tiger Eyes) and teen sex (Forever). Blume has used these subjects to generate discussion, but they have also been the source of controversy regarding age-appropriate reading.
The film version of Blume’s 1981 novel Tiger Eyes, directed by the author's son Lawrence Blume, stars Willa Holland as Davey and Amy Jo Johnson as Gwen Wexler, and was released in 2012.
Early life
Blume was born and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the daughter of Esther (née Rosenfeld), a homemaker, and Ralph Sussman, a dentist. She has a brother, David, who is five years older. Her family was Jewish. Blume has recalled, "I spent most of my childhood making up stories inside of my head." She graduated from Battin High School in 1956, then enrolled in Boston University. In the first semester, she was diagnosed with mononucleosis and took a brief leave from school before graduating from New York University in 1961 with a bachelor's degree in teaching.
Career
A lifelong avid reader, Blume first began writing when her children were attending preschool, and published her first book, The One in the Middle Is the Green Kangaroo, in 1969. The decade that followed proved to be her most prolific, with 13 more books being published, including many of her most well-known titles, such as Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (1970), Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (1972), Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great (1972), and Blubber (1974).
After publishing novels for young children and teens, Blume tackled another genre—adult reality and death. Her novels Wifey (1978) and Smart Women (1983) shot to the top of The New York Times best-seller list. Wifey has become a bestseller, with over 4 million copies sold to date. Her latest and third adult novel Summer Sisters (1998) was widely praised and has sold more than 3 million copies. It spent 5 months on The New York Times Bestseller list, with the hardcover reaching #3 and the paperback spent several weeks at #1. Several of Blume's books appear on the list of top all-time bestselling children’s books.
Judy Blume has won more than ninety literary awards, including three lifetime achievement awards in the U.S. She received the annual Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association in 1996, recognizing the "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature" of one book, Forever (1975). In April 2000 the Library of Congress named her to its Living Legends in the Writers and Artists category for her significant contributions to America's cultural heritage. In 2004 she received the annual National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters from the as someone who "has enriched American literary heritage over a life of service, or a corpus of work."
Marriages and family
On August 15, 1959, she married John M. Blume, whom she had met while a student at New York University; the wedding was held in the summer of her sophomore year of college. He later worked as a lawyer, while she briefly supported her family as a homemaker before pursuing teaching and writing. The Blumes had two children: Randy Lee, an airline pilot (born 1961), and Lawrence Andrew, a filmmaker (born 1963). The couple separated in 1975 and were legally divorced by 1976. Blume would later describe the marriage as "suffocating", although she maintained her first husband's surname.
Shortly after her separation, she met Thomas A. Kitchens, a physicist. The couple married in 1976, and Kitchens moved them to New Mexico for his work. They divorced in 1978. She later spoke up about their split: "It was a disaster, a total disaster. After a couple years, I got out. I cried every day. Anyone who thinks my life is cupcakes is all wrong."
A mutual friend introduced her to George Cooper, a former law professor, now non-fiction writer. Blume and Cooper were married in 1987. Cooper has an only child from a previous marriage, a daughter named Amanda. They currently reside in Key West.
Personal life
Blume announced she was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2012 after undergoing a routine ultrasound as she was preparing to leave for a five-week trip to Italy. She stated that she had been diagnosed with cervical cancer seventeen years earlier, and had a subsequent hysterectomy.