Judy Blume shares an old regret at BookCon gathering
May 31, 2015, 3:54 PM
Author Judy Blume speaks about her new book, "In the Unlikely Event," her first novel for adults in 17 years, at BookCon in New York, Sunday, May 31, 2015. The novel was inspired by a historical incident, when three planes crashed over eight weeks in Blume's hometown of Elizabeth, N.J. in the 1950s. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
NEW YORK (AP) — Judy Blume, whose novels helped millions of young people get through childhood, has some regrets about her own youth.
The 77-year-old writer says she had been in an “advanced” high school glee club in New Jersey that excluded blacks.
Blume was interviewed on stage Sunday by fellow author Jennifer Weiner at BookCon, the fan-based gathering held at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York.
Blume says she apologized to classmates at a 40th anniversary reunion and remembers saying, “I felt guilty for all these years” about not speaking out.
Blume says she had mentioned the glee club while writing her new novel, “In The Unlikely Event,” inspired by three plane crashes in her native Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1951-52, but removed the material because it didn’t fit the narrative.
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