Born on November 5, 1955, Newman grew up in a middle-class family in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brighton Beach. She and her two brothers were raised not only by their parents, but also by their maternal grandmother who lived across the street. Her outspoken, feisty bubbe (Yiddish for grandmother) would become a major influence and role model for young Lesléa, and would turn up in many of her novels and children's stories, including Remember That (1996), Matzo Ball Moon (1998), and In Every Laugh a Tear (1998).

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Newman began writing poetry by the age of eight, but she did not turn her hand to fiction until she was twenty-seven, the same year she came out as a lesbian. In 1982 she moved from New York City to the East coast lesbian mecca of Northampton, Massachusetts. There she soon discovered her own lesbian identity. By the mid-1980s she was writing poetry and novels, many about the Jewish dyke experience.

In 1989, Newman was impelled to write her first children's book when a lesbian friend complained that there were no books where her child could read about her own experience as the daughter of a lesbian. She asked Newman to rectify this, and the result was Heather Has Two Mommies, a straightforward story of a little girl who has "two arms, two hands, two legs, two eyes, two ears, two hands and two feet," and two lesbian mommies.

First published by a small press Newman and a friend founded to issue it because no established publisher would touch the theme, Heather soon became one of the most controversial books in the country, outraging right wing conservatives. By 1994 it had become the second most banned book in the United States.

Newman went on to write a number of other children's books, exploring topics from fat oppression (Belinda's Bouquet, 1991) and gay families (Gloria Goes to Gay Pride, 1991) to Jewish culture (Matzo Ball Moon) and pets (Cats, Cats, Cats!, 2001). She has also written books on sensitive issues for young adults, such as Fat Chance (1994), about eating disorders, and Jail Bait (2005), which tackles sexual abuse.

Newman has also written over two dozen books for adults, ranging from love poetry to novels and short stories. In addition, she has edited a number of anthologies of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. In all her work she examines and reveals the complex issues that lesbians and gay men face as they resolve their relationships with their birth families and create families of choice.

In one of her best-known pieces, "A Letter to Harvey Milk" (1987), Newman ties Jewish history and oppression to the struggle for gay liberation through a rambling letter written to the slain San Francisco politician by an older straight Jewish man. The older man's grudging respect for Milk's work and grief over his murder touched a deep chord with readers, and the story has been adapted as both a stage play and a film.

In addition to publishing her own writing, Newman has also worked to encourage and help other women explore the written word. As part of this effort, she has published Write from the Heart: Inspiration and Exercises for Women Who Want to Write (1993, rev. ed. 2003), and she also offers Write From the Heart writing workshops for women.

Since Stonewall various political agendas have dominated American lesbian literature.

The contemporary literary awards given specifically to honor glbtq books may be seen as an outgrowth of the modern American gay rights movement, so intertwined are they with the movement for equality.

Gay- and lesbian-relevant themes and issues resonate throughout both classic and contemporary works of children's literature.

Jewish-American gay and lesbian literature is marked by its rich heritage, diverse subject matter, and thriving vitality.

Although Northampton, Massachusetts is a small city, it has become a center of queerness, especially of lesbian activism.

Gay and lesbian young adult literature--books targeted at readers aged twelve and up--ranges widely in sensitivity, topic, quality, and political and social insight.

Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in the United States, was assassinated in San Francisco's City Hall, making him the American gay liberation movement's most visible martyr.

Alex Sanchez's unique background as a youth and family counselor and his experiences as an immigrant have helped make him an important voice in today's young adult glbtq literature canon.