Lesley M. M. Blume is an author, journalist,, columnist, and cultural observer based in New York City. She did her undergraduate work at Williams College and [Oxford college], and took her graduate degree in history from Cambridge University, where she was a Herchel Smith fellow.
Blume has authored three critically acclaimed children’s novels for Knopf. Upon the release of her third novel, Tennyson, reviewers and critics placed her in the same class as writers Flannery O’Connor, Eudora Welty, and Truman Capote (“Brilliant, unusual writing.”—The Chicago Tribune). Blume’s first collection of short stories, Modern Fairies, Dwarves, Goblins, and Other Nasties, was published on September 14, 2010.
As a journalist, Blume began her career at The Jordan Times in Amman and Cronkite Productions in New York City. She later became an off-air reporter and researcher for ABC News Nightline with Ted Koppel in Washington, D.C., where she helped cover the historic presidential election in 2000, the 9/11 attacks, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and countless other events and topics.
Now writing full-time, Ms. Blume covers culture, media, politics, and fashion (and sometimes the thorny politics of fashion). Her work has appeared in many publications, including Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, and The Daily Beast, among others. She co-created and served as founding editor of The Window, Barneys New York’s online fashion and culture magazine, where she remains editor-at-large; she is also The Huffington Post‘s longtime contributing style editor.
On November 1, 2010, Chronicle Books released to great acclaim Let’s Bring Back, a book by Ms. Blume based on her popular column of the same name for The Huffington Post. Starting in 2012, Chronicle will release a series of topic-specific editions of Let’s Bring Back, as well as a line of ancillary products.
Blume was recently hand-picked by Vogue as a founding member of the Vogue 100, an organization of “influential decision makers and opinion leaders known for their distinctive taste in fashion and culture, [and who] personify the rising influence of women over the past several decades.” Her individualistic personal style has been showcased in many magazines, including Vogue.com, Vanity Fair, Elle, O The Oprah Magazine, and Women’s Wear Daily.
She lives in Greenwich Village with her husband and their French bulldog, who was a featured character in Blume’s bestselling debut novel, Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters.