Do we like Judy Blume?
Our score: 8 out of 10. Decent and on the right side for decades, with one badly timed 2023 remark about J.K. Rowling that she quickly clarified.
Judith Sussman grew up in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the daughter of a dentist and a homemaker. She says her parents, both readers, gave her “the freedom to read”. She graduated from NYU with an education degree in 1961, and her first book came out in 1969.
Her way into writing is a good yarn. Wanting a creative outlet, she made felt art, sold pieces for $300, and spent the money on an electric typewriter. Her 1970 breakthrough, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, tackled adolescence, sexuality and religion, and her 1975 novel Forever made her a frequent target of censors.
The messy bit is April 2023. In a Sunday Times interview she said she was “behind her 100 per cent” on J.K. Rowling, called her a “victim of Twitter”, and trans people and allies were understandably hurt. Blume posted a statement saying “I wholly support the trans community” and that her point, taken out of context, was about empathy for someone harassed online. Where you land depends on whether you read it as a slip of sympathy or as a nod to Rowling's views, but the clarification came within days.
On the harm test, I found no campaigning against LGBTQ+ people, women, migrants or public health in the reporting I read, and nothing pointing to a slide into grievance or conspiracy theories. I also found nothing suggesting she keeps harmful company. That is why it is an asterisk and not a fail: one contested remark, quickly addressed, against a very long record the other way.
Her loudest cause is the freedom to read. In 2023 she called Florida's proposed limits on classroom talk about menstruation “Cuckoo. Impossible. Disgusting. Fascist.” She said “There are people in power who want to control everything.” She has also served on the board of the National Coalition Against Censorship.
Nothing new and nasty lately. In June 2026 she told NPR “I don't miss writing but I'm very glad that I wrote.” Her last book was the 2015 adult novel In The Unlikely Event. These days she works behind the counter at her Key West bookshop, reading children's books, and says she loves it.