Judith Viorst Biography

Judith Viorst, born in 1931, is a journalist, psychoanalysis researcher and the author of several works of fiction and non-fiction for children as well as adults. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, her most famous children's book, was first published in 1972 and has since sold over two million copies.

Other children's books include The Tenth Good Thing About Barney, The Alphabet From Z to A, and the "Alexander" stories: Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday, Alexander and Who's Not (Do You Hear Me? I Mean It!) Going to Move.

She received a B.A. in History from Rutgers University, and is also a graduate of the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute. She began her career as a poet and has since completed at least six collections of poems for adults. In the latter part of the 1970s, after two decades as an author, Viorst turned to the study of Freudian psychology. After six years of study at Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, in 1981 she became a research graduate affiliated with the institute.

Her first novel for adults, Murdering Mr. Monti, was published in 1994.  Other books for adults include nonfiction psychology books such as Grown-up Marriage, Imperfect Control, Necessary Losses and Suddenly Sixty.

She lectures widely on a variety of topics, ranging from the subjects of loss and control to children's literature. She lives in Washington, DC with her husband Milton, a political writer. They have three grown sons, Anthony, Nicholas and Alexander.

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