For generations of readers, Judy Blume is an icon. Beginning in the late 1960s, her celebrated novels were formative for young readers and future writers alike. Her children’s stories, including Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, are funny, irreverent and riotous precursors to the blockbuster kids’ series of today. While her young adult books were beloved – and sometimes banned – for their free and frank depictions of puberty and sexuality. Judy joins the Festival from America to speak with Sophie Black about her books, which changed the lives of so many – including her own, the new challenges presented to young people today, and her life now happily running a bookstore on an island in Florida.

<p>For generations of readers, Judy Blume is an icon. Beginning in the late 1960s, her celebrated novels were formative for young readers and future writers alike. Her children&rsquo;s stories, including <em>Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing</em>, are funny, irreverent and riotous precursors to the blockbuster kids&rsquo; series of today. While her young adult books were beloved &ndash; and sometimes banned &ndash; for their free and frank depictions of puberty and sexuality. Judy joins the Festival from America to speak with Sophie Black about her books, which changed the lives of so many &ndash; including her own, the new challenges presented to young people today, and her life now happily running a bookstore on an island in Florida.</p>

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