Are You There, Readers? How Judy Blume Became a Literary Icon

We are excited to invite you to an upcoming discussion featuring acclaimed author and journalist Mark Oppenheimer. We will be diving into his highly anticipated new biography, JUDY BLUME: A Life, which offers the first deeply researched portrait of the legendary literary voice behind classics such as Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.

Drawing from unprecedented access to Blume’s private papers and over 100 original interviews, Mark will explore her revolutionary impact on literature and her journey to becoming a global icon. As a former “Beliefs” columnist for The New York Times and the creator of the Unorthodox podcast, Mark brings a wealth of expertise to this conversation. Mark will be in conversation with Molly Tolsky, Editorial Director, Culture & Lifestyle at 70 Faces Media.

Mark Oppenheimer has been covering American religion for 25 years. He holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Yale, and has taught at Stanford, Wesleyan, Wellesley, NYU, Boston College, and Yale, where he was the founding director of the Yale Journalism Initiative. From 2010 to 2016, he wrote the “Beliefs” column for The New York Times, and he has also written for publications including The New Yorker, The Nation, GQ, Slate, and many more. He created Unorthodox, the world’s most popular podcast about Jewish life and culture, with over 7 million downloads. More recently, he hosted an eight-part podcast called Gatecrashers, about the history of Jews and antisemitism at Ivy League schools. He is the author of five books, including The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia and, most recently, Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood.