Ilene Beckerman (born 1935) is an American writer, who was not published until she was 60 years old, and a former advertising agency executive. She is best known for her first book ''

Love, Loss, and What I Wore ''Love, Loss, and What I Wore'' is a play written by Nora and Delia Ephron based on the 1995 book of the same name by Ilene Beckerman. It is organized as a series of monologues and uses a rotating cast of five principal women. The subject matter ...

'', published in 1995, which in 2008 became a successful play written by

Nora Ephron Nora Ephron ( ; May 19, 1941 – June 26, 2012) was an American journalist, writer, and filmmaker. She is best known for her romantic comedy films and was nominated three times for the Writers Guild of America Award and the Academy Award f ...

and

Delia Ephron Delia Ephron ( ; born July 12, 1944) is an American bestselling author, screenwriter, and playwright. Life and career Ephron was born in New York City, the second eldest of four daughters of screenwriters Phoebe and Henry Ephron. Her movies i ...

based on her book.

Early life

Ilene Beckerman was born in 1935, and grew up in Manhattan in the 1940s and 1950s.

Career

Beckerman did not start her career as a writer until she was almost 60 years old, after having risen to become vice-president of an

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

. Her journalism has appeared in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

', and

Ladies' Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century in the United States. In 18 ...

. In 1995, at the age of 60, Beckerman published ''

'', which ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' called a " "captivating little pictorial autobiography for adults ... a wry commentary on the pressures women constantly face to look good". In 2011, she published, ''The Smartest Woman I Know'', an account of her life with her grandmother, Ettie Goldberg, who she lived with after her mother died.

Selected publications

* ''

'' (1995) * ''The Smartest Woman I Know'' (2011) * ''Mother of the Bride'' * ''Makeovers at the Beauty Counter of Happiness'' * ''What We Do for Love''

Personal life

When she was 12 years old, her mother died, and she went to live in Manhattan with her grandparents, who ran a candy store on

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stre ...

between 64th and 65th Streets. In 1955, aged 20 years, Beckerman married her Boston sociology professor, 17 years her senior. The marriage was short-lived and ended in divorce. She married again, and had six children, one of whom died in infancy, and eventually divorced. Beckerman lives in

Bethlehem Township, New Jersey Bethlehem Township is a township in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. It is part of the New York metropolitan area.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beckerman, Ilene Living people American memoirists American women memoirists 1935 births 21st-century American women