Goldman, Judy 1942–

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Goldman, Judy 1942–

(Judy Ann Goldman)

PERSONAL:

Born in 1942, in Rock Hill, SC; married; children: one son, one daughter.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Charlotte, NC. Agent—Marly Rusoff & Associates, Inc., P.O. Box 524, Bronxville, NY 10708.

CAREER:

Queens College, New York, NY, creative writing instructor; Duke University, Durham, NC, writing workshop instructor; National Public Radio, Charlotte, NC, commentator; guest on media programs, including Poetry Live.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Roanoke-Chowan Award for Poetry; Gerald Cable Poetry Award, for Wanting to Know the End; Fortner Writer and Community Award; Sir Walter Raleigh Award for Fiction and Mary Ruffin Poole Award for Best First Work of Fiction, both for The Slow Way Back.

WRITINGS:

Holding Back Winter (poems), St. Andrews Press (Laurinburg, NC), 1987.

Wanting to Know the End (poems), Silverfish Review Press, 1993.

Collected Essays, Warren Publishing (Davidson, NC), 1994.

The Slow Way Back (novel), William Morrow (New York, NY), 1999.

Early Leaving (novel), William Morrow (New York, NY), 2004.

Work represented in anthologies. Contributor of poems and essays to periodicals, including Southern Review, Gettysburg Review, Shenandoah, Kenyon Review, Ohio Review, Crazy Horse, and Prairie Schooner.

SIDELIGHTS:

Judy Goldman published several books of poetry and essays before writing her debut novel, The Slow Way Back, a story of three generations of women in a Southern Jewish family. The story evolved from personal essays Goldman had delivered on National Public Radio. It tells of radio therapist Thea McKee, who is married to a Gentile, while her sister, Mickey, is devoted to her faith and their father. As a girl, Thea sensed that family secrets were being hidden when her mother reacted violently to the child trying on her wedding dress. In addition, her father always favored her sister over Thea. When Thea is in middle age, a packet of letters comes into her possession, written in Yiddish by her Grandma Bella in the 1930s. They hold the key to the family's long-hidden secrets. A Publishers Weekly contributor described Goldman as being "a touching storyteller and an astute observer of human nature."

The narrator of Goldman's next novel, Early Leaving, is film critic Kathryne Smallwood, who has enjoyed an upper-middle-class life in Charlotte, North Carolina, until her eighteen-year-old son, Early, kills a black teen and attempts to hide his crime by setting the body and the boy's car on fire. Kathryne is tormented by not knowing whether she was in some way responsible for Early's actions. She and her husband have been having marital problems, and he is having an affair. She considers whether Early was overly influenced by his friend, Chip, and whether Early was drinking or doing drugs. Ultimately it appears that her indulgence of her son was a negative factor. Other themes include liberal attitudes toward racism, conflict avoidance, and the need to balance protection of children with teaching them responsibility. Library Journal reviewer Eleanor J. Bader called Early Leaving: "Masterfully written and fast-paced."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 2004, Deborah Donovan, review of Early Leaving, p. 60.

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2004, review of Early Leaving, p. 595.

Library Journal, October 15, 1999, Molly Abramowitz, review of The Slow Way Back, p. 105; August, 2004, Eleanor J. Bader, review of Early Leaving, p. 67.

Publishers Weekly, August 30, 1999, review of The Slow Way Back, p. 54.