Judy Blume

In The News – Articles Of Interest For Authors

I am not allowed in a book store by myself. It is a deal I made with my husband, because I can’t be trusted. The problem is that once you get into a book store, it is a very enticing place. So no matter who I take with me, we end up with too many books for my budget’s happiness. Even with my husband! Alison Flood interviews the Judy Blume,  in this Guardian article that also explains part of reasons behind my addiction.

~ * ~

‘People are hungry for real bookstores’: Judy Blume on why US indie booksellers are thriving

At 78, the multimillion-selling author has begun a new career, opening her own bookshop – and joining a business sector that’s flourishing again in the US

Alison Flood

May 20 2016

She might be a beloved and bestselling author of classic children’s books from Forever to Blubber, but Judy Blume says she wakes up every day “and I look to the sky, and I say, ‘whoever’s up there, I thank you for not having to write today’.”

Blume doesn’t have to write because, at 78, she has embarked on a new career: she’s an independent bookseller. Together with her husband, George Cooper, she has opened a small, nonprofit bookshop in Key West, Florida, where she’s working almost every day. And she’s loving it. She had planned “to take a gap year” after she finished writing and promoting her last novel, In the Unlikely Event. “I was going to relax and read and have this whole time with no pressure. And then bingo – the chance comes along to open a bookshop, and there you go. I guess I like that in my life … To learn something new like this, at 78, makes it all the more exciting.”