GRAND Magazine - Summer 2023 - 18

cover story
Blume - who was born Judy Sussman in
Elizabeth, New Jersey on February 12, 1938, never
imagined she would be a writer. While growing
up she wanted to be a cowgirl, an actress, or a
detective. Writing books was the furthest thing
from her mind. Then, around the age of 25, as a
stay-at-home wife and mother of two, she felt
that something was missing in her life.
Judy's
children
Daughter Randy
Lee was born in
1961.
Romper reported,
In 1961, Blume became
a first-time mom when
she and then-husband
John welcomed their
daughter, Randy Lee.
Judy with her son, Lawrence,
at Barnes & Noble in Santa Monica. CA
Randy Lee
After becoming a mom, Blume became a homemaker
in Scotch Plains, New Jersey, taking care of
her little girl.
While Blume rarely discusses her adult children
in public, we do know that her daughter, Randy is
a therapist and clinical social worker who lives in
Cambridge. Randy Blume became a therapist with
a sub-specialty in helping writers complete their
works. She has one child, Elliot Kephart, who is credited
with encouraging his grandmother, Judy Blume,
to write the most recent " Fudge " books.
18 GRAND Summer 2023
Blume welcomed her son Lawrence Andrew in
1963. When her children were toddlers, she did her
best to follow in her mother's footsteps by raising
model children. " She told me to polish the children's
shoes and wash their laces every day while they're
napping, " she told The New York Times. " And guess
what? I did until I started to question it. "
Blume's son Lawrence is a filmmaker whose credits
include directing a critically-acclaimed 2012 adaptation
of her beloved book Tiger Eyes.
Judy Blume's ability to write from the perspective
of her youthful readers has guaranteed her status
as one of American children's most popular authors,
while simultaneously making her the target of-and
a defender against-censorship.
During an interview at the Chicago Lit Festival,
Blume said " I started composing rhyming picture
books while I was washing the dishes in the evening
after dinner. " That exercise led her to write longer fiction
for preteens and teens.
Now at the age of 85, she has published more
than 25 novels that have been translated into 32
languages, selling more than 85 million copies (and
counting.)
Speaking to People magazine, Blume remarked on
her marriage with husband George Cooper, a former
law professor, also 85, whom she has been with since
1979. Judy gushed, " He moved in on our second
date. " She continued, saying " We've been through
a lot together and he's wonderful. I mean, we're so
different. We're so the same, but then we're so different.
He's laid back. No anxieties. And he makes me
feel so safe in my world, just being with him. " Cooper
has one daughter from a previous marriage, Amanda,
to whom Blume is very close.
Judy and her husband have been married for 36
years. Between them they have three grown children
and one grandchild.
Blume and Cooper own and operate Books &
Books, an independent bookstore in Key West,
Florida. Books & Books is a nonprofit, independently-minded
neighborhood bookstore located in The
Studios of Key West, an art center on the west side
of town. It's not only the charm that draws people
to Key West. It's famed for many things, not the
least of which is a literary tradition developed by the
cadre of renowned writers who worked amidst and
were inspired by its palm-shaded streets-Ernest
Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, Elizabeth Bishop,
James Merrill, John Hersey, Robert Stone, Annie
Dillard, and Anne Beattie, to name a few.
Continued on next page

https://www.facebook.com/GRANDmagazine https://www.romper.com/entertainment/judy-blume-husband-children https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/07/movies/tiger-eyes-directed-by-lawrence-blume.html https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/randy-blume-cambridge-ma/100847

GRAND Magazine - Summer 2023

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