NEWMAN, Judith 1961(?)-

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1961; married; children: Henry, Augustus.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY. Agent—Hyperion Editorial Department, 77 West 66th St., Eleventh Floor, New York, NY 10023. E-mail—judithn@compuserve.com.

CAREER:

Editor and author.

WRITINGS:

(With Matti Gershenfeld) How to Find Love, Sex, and Intimacy after Fifty: A Woman's Guide, Fawcett Columbine (New York, NY), 1991.

(With Kim Johnson Gross and Jeff Stone) Bath ("Chic Simple" series), Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 1993.

(With Kim Johnson Gross and Jeff Stone) Body ("Chic Simple" series), Alfred A. Knopf (New York, NY), 1994.

Tell Me Another One: The Woman's Guide to Men's Classic Lines, Dell (New York, NY), 1994.

Parents from Hell: Unexpurgated Tales of Good Intentions ("From Hell" series), Plume (New York, NY), 1995.

(With Sydney Biddle Barrows) Just between Us Girls: Secrets about Men from the Madam Who Knows, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1996.

You Make Me Feel like an Unnatural Woman: Diary of a New (Older) Mother, Miramax (New York, NY), 2004.

Author of "Live and Laugh" column for Ladies' Home Journal. Contributing editor for several magazines, including Ladies' Home Journal, Allure, and Self. Also contributor to Vanity Fair, Harper's, Discover, and the New York Times.

SIDELIGHTS:

Judith Newman is a writer who contributes to a number of magazines and periodicals. She has also authored or coauthored several nonfiction books on romance and lifestyle subjects. In 2004 she published a memoir, You Make Me Feel like an Unnatural Woman: Diary of a New (Older) Mother, which tells the story of her struggle to get pregnant at a later stage in life, and fher succes at becoming a mother at age forty.

Newman's writing technique incorporates a combination of humor and style, as shown through the books she wrote throughout the 1990s. She coauthored two of the "Chic Simple" series of books for Alfred A. Knopf. One, Bath, is a guide that gives practical suggestions on bathroom accessories. The other, Body, discusses how to cultivate health and a sense of well being in a stressful world, with topics like skin care, vitamins, and exercise. In Tell Me Another One: The Woman's Guide to Men's Classic Lines, Newman compiles a set of pick-up lines from men of all ages, set off by cartoons from New Yorker illustrator Victoria Roberts. Chicago Tribune contributor Joyce Slater described this book as "so funny, so right on target." In another contribution to a book series, this time the "From Hell" series for Plume, Newman wrote Parents from Hell: Unexpurgated Tales of Good Intentions. In it she collects humorous tales of the strange and funny things parents have done in the name of love. In Just between Us Girls: Secrets about Men from the Madam Who Knows, using a combination of humor and how-to style, Newman assists former New York madam Sydney Biddle Barrows in advising women on ways to keep the men in their lives interested in them and their long-term relationships.

In 2004 Newman delved into a more personal realm. With the release of her memoir, You Make Me Feel like an Unnatural Woman, written in a diary format, she details the ups and downs she faced trying to get pregnant in her late thirties. She begins with the seven years and large amount of money spent pursuing pregnancy with the aid of different technological procedures. After ultimately conceiving and giving birth to twin boys, Newman faced the reality of being a mother at age forty, and struggled to balance motherhood, marriage, and a career. Booklist contributor Vanessa Bush wrote that Newman is "brutally honest—and funny—about the wear and tear of first-time motherhood on middle-aged women" in addition to the strain on a marriage if one partner is reluctant to start a family. Other critics also picked up on Newman's ability to make that stressful time in her life one filled with humor as well. MostlyFiction.com contributor Shannon Bloomstran described Newman as "Erma Bombeck after a three martini breakfast." Bloomstran also picked up on the book's honesty and candor, writing that Newman "does have hilarious insights and is unafraid of voicing those thoughts that most of us keep firmly under lock and key."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Newman, Judith, You Make Me Feel like an Unnatural Woman: Diary of a New (Older) Mother, Miramax (New York, NY), 2004.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, April 1, 2004, Vanessa Bush, review of You Make Me Feel like an Unnatural Woman, p. 1339.

Chicago Tribune, March 7, 1994, Joyce R. Slater, "Times Change, but Not the Lines Men Try," Tempo section, p. 3.

Entertainment Weekly, March 15, 1996, Alexandra Jacobs, review of Just between Us Girls: Secrets about Men from the Madam Who Knows, p. 58.

Health & Medicine Week, April 26, 2004, "Obstetrics: Number of First-time Moms over Forty on the Rise in the U.S."

Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 2004, review of You Make Me Feel like an Unnatural Woman, p. 168.

O, May 2004, Elaina Richardson, "Oh, Baby," p. 194.

Publishers Weekly, February 23, 2004, review of You Make Me Feel like an Unnatural Woman, p. 61.

ONLINE

Ladies Home Journal Online,http://www.lhj.com/ (September 10, 2004), "Learn More about Judith Newman."

MostlyFiction.com,http://mostlyfiction.com/ (July 24, 2004), Shannon Bloomstran, review of You Make Me Feel like an Unnatural Woman.

You Make Me Feel like an Unnatural Woman: Diary of a New (Older) Mother Web site,http://www.unnaturalwoman.com/ (August 25, 2004).*