Holly Rizzuto Palker and Eva Langston chat with Rachelle Bergstein, author of The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us, about why Blume, once the most banned writer in the United States is more relevant now than ever. Judy Blume's ability to reflect real life parenting, puberty and precocious kids built a trust with her adolescent readers and provided a solid training ground for the next generation of women's rights activists. The original Judy Blume generation has now grown up and taken her messaging into our own parenting and beyond.

Rachelle is a lifestyle writer, bestselling author and editor, focused on style, pop culture and families. Her latest book, The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood For All of Us published with Simon & Schuster in July 2024 and it was a USA Today bestseller, as well as a notable nonfiction pick by LibraryReads. Bookpage called it “ground-breaking,” the LA Times called it “lively and important,” and it has been positively reviewed by Kirkus, The Wall Street Journal and The Skimm.

Rachelle's first book, Women from the Ankle Down: The Story of Shoes and How They Define Us (HarperCollins, 2012) was called “wickedly provocative” by Kirkus, “fleet-footed” by the New York Times, and was named one of Janet Maslin’s top beach reads of Summer 2012. Her second, Brilliance and Fire: A Biography of Diamonds (HarperCollins, 2016) was called “exhilarating” by the Wall Street Journal, and was picked as one of Amazon’s top nonfiction titles of June 2016. It was featured in best-of summer lists at Harper’s Bazaar and The Knot.

Rachelle spent five years as a features editor and reporter for the New York Post. Her articles and essays have appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, Bloomberg View, Forbes, Wirecutter, LitHub and others. She has been interviewed for 99% Invisible, NPR’s Weekend Edition and Marketplace and has appeared on WSJ Lunch Break, Bold TV and Yahoo Finance. Inspired by Judy Blume’s longtime fight against book bans, Rachelle follows the current politically charged book banning crisis on her Substack, called Banner Year. She lives with her husband and son in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Author Website: https://www.rachellebergstein.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachellewb/?hl=en

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelle-bergstein/

X: https://x.com/RaBergstein