About Judy

JUDY STERNLIGHT began her publishing career at Random House in the summer of 2000 as a temp in the sales department. After falling in love with the world of publishing—the bright, passionate, creative, and eccentric people, the joy that comes with bringing important, entertaining, and provocative stories into the world, and of course, the free books—she accepted an editorial position at the Random House Publishing Group.

As an editor at Random House, Ballantine, and The Modern Library, Judy’s publications included Peter Matthiessen’s Shadow Country (2008 National Book Award, New York Times bestseller), Naeem Murr’s The Perfect Man (PEN Beyond Margins Award, Commonwealth Prize for Europe and South Asia), New York Times bestselling author Rita Mae Brown’s Hounded to Death and Animal Magnetism, and The Book of the Unknown by Jonathon Keats (ALA’s 2010 Sophie Brody Medal for achievement in Jewish literature). For recent credits, click on the Home tab.

From 1990-1997, Judy performed and taught classes with SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED, an acclaimed improvisational theater company based in NYC, winning Theatre Week's 1994 Straw Hat Award for Best Improviser of the Year. She has continued to draw on this background, teaching Active Storytelling and mentoring creative writers at The Center for Fiction and other NYC arts organizations.

Her essays, articles, and stories have appeared in the New York Times (City Section), Woman’s World, Made to Measure, and the Christian Science Monitor.

Judy has a BA from Brown University and she lives in New York City. She is a member of PEN American Center, the Center for Fiction, the Women's Media Group, and the Freelancers Union.