Lesléa New­man has cre­at­ed 85 books for read­ers of all ages includ­ing the mem­oirs-in-verse, I Car­ry My Moth­er and I Wish My Father; the nov­el-in-verse, Octo­ber Mourn­ing: A Song for Matthew Shep­ard; the short sto­ry col­lec­tion, A Let­ter to Har­vey Milk, and the children’s books, The Bab­ka Sis­ters; Wel­com­ing Eli­jah: A Passover Tale With A Tail; Ket­zel, The Cat Who Com­posed; and Joy­ful Song: A Nam­ing Sto­ry. Her lit­er­ary award include two Nation­al Jew­ish Book Awards, the Syd­ney Tay­lor Body-of-Work Award, a Nation­al Endow­ment for the Arts Poet­ry Fel­low­ship, and the Mass­a­chu­setts Book Award. From 2008 — 2010, she served as the poet lau­re­ate of Northamp­ton, MA.