Website: http://www.lesleanewman.com

1955
Born in Brooklyn, New York.

1977
Graduated with a Bachelor in Science from University of Vermont, with a self-designed major of Creative Writing and Social Services.

1980
Received a Certificate in Poetics from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa Institute, after having studied with Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Ted Berrigan, and Anne Waldman.

Published the poetry chapbook Just Looking for My Shoes, Back Door Press, Englewood, CO.

1982
Worked as a reader for Mademoiselle and Redbook in New York, NY.

1983
Began teaching creative writing at summer program at Mt.Holyoke College and continued through 1987.

1986
Published the novel, Good Enough to Eat (Firebrand Books).

Studied with Grace Paley at Cummington Community for the Arts.

1988
Published the short story collection A Letter to Harvey Milk (Firebrand Books).

1989
Married Mary Vazquez (though gay marriage has no legal status).

Published Heather Has Two Mommies (In Other Words Publishing), the first children’s book about a young girl with two moms. Illustrations by Diana Souza.

Received poetry fellowship from the Massachusetts Artists Fellowship Foundation.

1992
Received Highlights for Children fiction writing award for “Remember That.”

1993
Received the James Baldwin Award for Cultural Achievement from the Greater Boston Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance.

1995
Published the children’s book Too Far Away To Touch, about a little girl whose favorite uncle is a gay man living with AIDS, illustrated by Catherine Stock (Clarion Books).

Published the anthology The Femme Mystique (Alyson Books).

1997
Received a poetry fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

1998
Delivered keynote address for University of Wyoming Gay Awareness Week; arrived on campus the day Matthew Shepard died.

1998
Published Still Life with Buddy: A Novel Told in Fifty Poems, which tells the story of the passionate friendship between a lesbian and a gay man living with AIDS (Pride Publications).

2000
Published poetry collection Signs of Love (Orchard House Press).

Received fiction writing grant from the Money for Women/ Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, Inc.

Published short story collection, Girls Will Be Girls (Alyson Books).

2002
Published Runaway Dreidel! illustrated by Krysten Brooker (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers).

2003
Published The Best Short Stories of Lesléa Newman (Alyson Books).

2003
Published Paula Tiene Dos Mamás, (Spanish edition of Heather Has Two Mommies) illustrated by Mabel Piérola (Edicions Bellaterra).

2004
Legally married Mary Vazquez.

Published the middle grade historical novel Hachiko Waits, with illustrations by Machiyo Kodaira (Henry Holt Books for Young Readers).

Published The Boy Who Cried Fabulous, illustrated by Peter Ferguson (Tricycle Press).

Received Cat Writers Association Muse Medallion for Best Children’s Book for The Best Cat in the World illustrated by Ronald Himler (Eerdmans Books).

2005
Held faculty position at Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing Program at University of Southern Maine where she taught through 2009.

Became a Bat Mitzvah at Congregation B’nai Israel, Northampton, MA.

2006
Received “Continuing the Legacy of Stonewall” Award from the Stonewall Center of University of Massachusetts Amherst.

2007
Featured as two-part clue in New York Times crossword puzzle: “with 42 across Lesléa Newman book” (answer: Heather Has Two Mommies).

2008
Published poetry collection Nobody’s Mother (Orchard House Press).

Appointed poet laureate of Northampton, MA (two-year term).

2009
Published the novel, The Reluctant Daughter (Bold Strokes Books).

Published Mommy, Mama, and Me, and Daddy, Papa, and Me, illustrated by Carol Thompson, the first board books for children with same-sex parents (Tricycle Press).

Received Alice B. Reader’s Appreciation Medal for Lesbian Fiction.

2010
Received American Library Association Notable Book Honor for Mommy, Mama, and Me.

Became a faculty member of Spalding University's brief-residency MFA in Writing program

Received American Library Association Stonewall Book Award Honor for Mommy, Mama, and Me, and Daddy, Papa, and Me.

Returned to Laramie, Wyoming to visit the site of Matthew Shepard’s murder. Wrote October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard, a book that tells the story of Matthew Shepard’s murder and its aftermath in a cycle of 68 poems (forthcoming from Candlewick Press).

Received Hachamat Lev Award from Keshet.

2011
Published Donovan’s Big Day, illustrated by Mike Dutton (Tricycle Press) a children’s book that celebrates the marriage of Donovan’s two moms.