Lesléa Newman (born November 5, 1955, in Brooklyn, New York City) is an American author, editor, and feminist. Four of her young adult novels have been finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature, making her one of the most celebrated authors in the category.
Personal life
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 with her Hebrew name, Leah. Much like Sylvia Plath, Newman first began writing as a teenager by participating in poetry contests sponsored by Seventeen magazine. Newman is a lesbian.
Career
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. Her best-known work is the controversial Heather Has Two Mommies. She was later the subject of another similar controversy in 1997, when her book Belinda's Bouquet was banned by School District 36 Surrey in Surrey, British Columbia, alongside Johnny Valentine's One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads and Rosamund Elwin and Michele Paulse's Asha's Mums. That ban was eventually overturned by the Supreme Court of Canada in its 2002 decision Chamberlain v Surrey School District No 36.
She also authored The Boy Who Cried Fabulous and Hachiko Waits in 2004.
Selected publications
Heather Has Two Mommies
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. In 1990, many gay and lesbian couples and their children found the first reflections of their families in this picture book.
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 Between 1990 and 1999 (7), as well as between 2010 and 2019 (87).
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." Questionable material included Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy's Roommate by Michael Willhoite. In 2000, a federal judge ruled that the petition was unconstitutional.
Despite controversy, the book received a favorable review from School Library Journal and has received the following accolades:
American Library Association Rainbow List pick (2016) Lambda Literary Award for Children/Young Adult nominee
Saturday Is Pattyday (1993) 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.
The book was nominated for the Lambda Literary Award for Children's/Young Adult.