Newman was born as Leslie Newman to Jewish parents in New York City in 1955. She developed her pen name by combining her birth name, Leslie, with her Hebrew name, Leah.[2] She started writing poems when she was 8 to cope with her sadness over her family moving from Brooklyn to Long Island.[3] Newman began writing more seriously as a teenager by participating in poetry contests sponsored by Seventeen magazine. She was voted "Class Wit" in high school.
In 1977, Newman spend some time living on Kibbutz Ga'aton in Israel. She attended ulpan, worked on a farm, and volunteered at the children's house. She later visited again as part of a PJ Library program for children's authors.[4]
Newman studied education and poetics at the University of Vermont and Naropa Institute, respectively. She was mentored by Allen Ginsberg in her poetry program. [5] She has cited Ginsberg and poet Grace Paley as two of her greatest influences.[6] While she has written poetry, prose, and nonfiction, she says that poetry has always been her first love as a writer.[7]
Her relationship with her parents was strained as a teenager and throughout her early adulthood. Upon moving out, she had very little contact with them for decades, in part because of their "loud and clear" expectation for her to have a traditional heterosexual marriage. She and her parents reconciled after her mother had a health crisis that left her hospitalized for 10 days. Newman stayed until her mother was well enough to be discharged, after which point the two "could[n't] remember what [they] had ever fought about." After her release, the two maintained a close relationship. They called daily and visited frequently. She was her mother's primary caregiver in the months before her death. Shortly before dying, her mother gave her permission to write about the experience on the condition that "I'll never have to read it." After her mother's death from bladder cancer and COPD, she published a poetry collection about her, titled I Carry My Mother.[8]
Newman stayed with her father for several weeks after her mother's death, as he struggled to take care of himself. Her father died five years later, after a year in an assisted living facility. There was no clear cause of death, and he had been given a clean bill of health just a week prior. Newman believes that it was his grief that killed him.[8] She dedicated a poetry collection to him as well, titled I Wish My Father.
Her work is influenced by her Jewish values and upbringing. She is particularly motivated by the value of tikkun olam, the obligation to repair the world. That value is part of the reason that she has chosen to dedicate much of her work to groups that are underrepresented in children's literature, particularly Jewish and lesbian families, to help those children feel like they belong.[9] Newman's commitment to social justice has brought together her Jewish and lesbian identities.[3] She has stated that everything she writes is influenced by her Judaism. She had little Jewish education as a child, but she became Bat Mitzvah at the age of 48.[7]
Lesléa Newman has written and edited 70 books and anthologies. She has written about such topics as being a Jew, body image and eating disorders, lesbianism, lesbian and gay parenting, and her gender role as a femme. She has made a point throughout her career to write about underrepresented groups. Some of her earliest works, written shortly after she came out, are about Jewish lesbians. She later became known for her children's literature featuring LGBT and Jewish themes.
Newman's short story A Letter to Harvey Milk has been adapted into a musical.[12]
Her best-known work is the controversial Heather Has Two Mommies. Newman wrote the book when approached by a lesbian family in her neighborhood who lamented the fact that there were no books they could give their daughter that featured families like theirs.[13] She was repeatedly advised to publish the book under a pen name in anticipation of the backlash, but declined.[6]
In 1998, Newman was invited to be the keynote speaker for the University of Wyoming's Gay Awareness Week. She had intended to discuss the backlash to Heather Has Two Mommies. Two days before she was scheduled to speak, the president of the LGBT Student Organization called to tell her that fellow member Matthew Shepard had been attacked and was not found for 18 hours, at which point he was in a coma. He offered to let her cancel her appearance, but she felt it was important to come.[16] Shepard, who was on the committee that selected her, died the morning of that Newman's appearance. Committee members had left an empty seat for him in the front row. In her remarks, she promised attendees that she would do all she could to keep his memory alive.[17] Newman was deeply affected by his death and continues to open all lectures on LGBT rights within a dedication to him. She has written two books about Shepard: October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard, a collection of 60 poems exploring his death and its impact, and Always Matt, a book-length poem for teens. She wrote Always Matt when asked by the Matthew Shepard Foundation to write something about Shepard's life for young readers.[6]
Newman has taught creative writing at several universities as well as private workshops.[5] She is a faculty member of the School of Writing at Spalding University.[18] Newman gives presentations at schools, libraries, and conferences on topics including Matthew Shepard, her experience as a lesbian Jew, gender stereotypes in children's literature, censorship of LGBT literature, and HIV/AIDS.[19]
She often incorporates Yiddish words and phrases into her work. She heard lots of Yinglish growing up in Brooklyn, particularly from her grandmothers, and says that she does her most authentic writing when she incorporates it.[7]
Heather Has Two Mommies, originally published in 1989 by Alyson Books and illustrated by Diana Souza, is about a young girl who has lesbian mothers. The book was republished by Candlewick Press in 2015.[20] In 1990, many gay and lesbian couples and their children found the first reflections of their families in this picture book.[21]
However, Heather Has Two Mommies has faced a lot of controversy. The book has landed on the American Library Association's Top 100 Most Banned and Challenged Books between 1990 and 1999 (7),[22] as well as between 2010 and 2019 (87).[23]
In the late Nineties, the Wichita Falls library district faced harsh backlash from library-card holders "petition[ed] the city to move controversial materials out of the municipal library's children's section."[24] Questionable material included Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite.[24][25] In 2000, a federal judge ruled that the petition was unconstitutional.[24][25]
Despite controversy, the book received a favorable review from School Library Journal and has received the following accolades:
Saturday is Pattyday, originally published in 1993 and illustrated by Annette Hegel, is a book about Frankie, whose two moms get divorced. The book was republished by New Victoria on December 13, 2010.[27]
Alicia and the Hurricane: A Story of Puerto Rico with Georgina Lazaro Leon. Illustrated by Elizabeth Erazo Baez. Children's Book Press. March 2022.[38]
Set in Stone: Butch-On-Butch Erotica. Alyson Books. May 1, 2001.
Back to Basics: A Butch-Femme Anthology.Bella Books. April 1, 2004.
Mentsh: On Being Jewish and Queer. Alyson Books. August 15, 2004.
Becoming Myself: Reflections on Growing Up Female.Hachette Books. April 17, 2007.
Things Invisible to See.Circlet Press. February 25, 2015.
HYSTERIA: Writing the Female Body. Lucky Bastard Press. June 15, 2016.
Conversing with Cancer: How to Ask Questions, Find and Share Information, and Make the Best Decisions. Peter Lang Us. January 17, 2018.
We Will Not Be Silenced: The Lived Experience of Sexual Harassment and Sexual Assault Told Powerfully Through Poetry, Prose, Essay, and Art. Indie Blu(e) Publishing. November 27, 2018.
No Voice Too Small: Fourteen Young Americans Making History. Charlesbridge Publishing September 22, 2020.
^"Stonewall Book Awards List". Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT). September 9, 2009. Archived from the original on September 5, 2016. Retrieved November 6, 2016.
^"Past Winners". Jewish Book Council. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
Day, Frances Ann (2000). Lesbian and Gay Voices: An Annotated Bibliography and Guide to Literature for Children and Young Adults. Greenwood Press. pp. 188–190. ISBN0-313-31162-5.
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