Fran Lebowitz facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Fran Lebowitz
Lebowitz in 2011
Born	Frances Ann Lebowitz (1950-10-27) October 27, 1950 (age 74) Morristown, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation	Author public speaker actor
Nationality	American
Genre	Essays
Notable works	Metropolitan Life (1978) Social Studies (1981)

Frances Ann "Fran" Lebowitz (born October 27, 1950) is an American author, public speaker, and actor. She is famous for her witty and sarcastic comments on American life, especially from her point of view as a long-time resident of New York City.

In the 1970s and 1980s, she was friends with many famous artists, including Andy Warhol and director Martin Scorsese.

Lebowitz became well-known for her books Metropolitan Life (1978) and Social Studies (1981). These books were later combined into one volume called The Fran Lebowitz Reader in 1994.

She has also been the star of two projects directed by Martin Scorsese: the HBO documentary Public Speaking (2010) and the Netflix series Pretend It's a City (2021). The New York Times has called her a modern-day Dorothy Parker, another famous American writer known for her humor.

Early Life and School Days

Fran Lebowitz was born and raised in Morristown, New Jersey. From a young age, she loved to read so much that she would often read secretly during class instead of doing her schoolwork.

Lebowitz was not a strong student, especially in math. She said that algebra was "the first thing which they presented to me that I absolutely could not understand at all, and had no interest in understanding". Her grades were so low that her parents sent her to a private girls' school. However, she had trouble following the rules and was eventually expelled for what the school called "nonspecific surliness," or being generally grumpy and defiant.

As a teenager, Lebowitz was very inspired by the writer James Baldwin. She said, "James Baldwin was the first person I ever saw on television who I heard talk like that... he was the first intellectual I ever heard talk... And I was just flabbergasted."

Beginning Her Career

After leaving high school, Lebowitz earned her high school equivalency certificate. In 1969, at age 18, she moved to New York City. To support herself, she worked many different jobs, including as a cleaner, chauffeur, and taxi driver.

When she was 21, Lebowitz began working for a small magazine called Changes. She started by selling advertising space and later began writing book and movie reviews. This led to a job with the famous artist Andy Warhol, who hired her to write a column for his magazine, Interview. After that, she also wrote for Mademoiselle magazine.

In 1978, she published her first book, Metropolitan Life. It was a collection of funny essays about things she found annoying or frustrating. The book was a success, and Lebowitz became a celebrity in New York. She followed it up with Social Studies in 1981, another collection of humorous essays.

A Famous Public Speaker

Lebowitz (right) with Harold Augenbraum, Wallace Shawn and Deborah Eisenberg during a panel discussion at the 2011 Brooklyn Book Festival. Since the 1980s, Lebowitz has mostly supported herself with speaking engagements.

Since the mid-1990s, Lebowitz has been famous for having a long-term writer's block, which means she has found it very difficult to write. Her last published book was a children's story in 1994 called Mr. Chas and Lisa Sue Meet the Pandas.

Because of her writer's block, Lebowitz has made a career out of public speaking and television appearances. "It's what I wanted my entire life," she has said. "People asking me my opinion, and people not allowed to interrupt." She travels the country for speaking events where she shares her opinions on many topics.

She is also known for her unique style. She usually wears custom-made men's suit jackets, white shirts, Levi's jeans, cowboy boots, and tortoiseshell glasses. She is also known for her large book collection of over 10,000 books and her refusal to use modern technology like cell phones or computers.

In 2010, a new generation was introduced to Lebowitz through the HBO documentary Public Speaking, directed by her friend Martin Scorsese. She worked with Scorsese again on the 2021 Netflix series Pretend It's a City, where they discuss New York City and many other topics.

Her Views and Opinions

On New York City

Lebowitz often talks about how New York City has changed over the years. She is critical of what is called gentrification, a process where neighborhoods become more expensive, pushing out longtime residents. She says the biggest difference between the "Old New York" and the "New New York" is money. She feels that in the past, people who weren't rich could still afford to live in Manhattan.

She has criticized former New York mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg, saying they made the city more like the suburbs. She is also critical of the large number of very wealthy people in the city. On the topic of billionaires, she once said:

No one earns a billion dollars. People earn $10 an hour, people steal a billion dollars.

On the Arts

In the 1980s, a devastating illness affected many of Lebowitz's friends in the art world, especially in the gay community. She has spoken about how this loss created a huge cultural void. She believes a whole generation of talented artists and thinkers was lost.

In a 2016 interview, she explained that these artists were not just creating culture, but were also the audience that supported it. She said, "There's a huge gap in what people know, and there's no context for it anymore."

On Politics

Lebowitz at the 2010 Tribeca Festival

Lebowitz identifies as a liberal and is often critical of both the Republican and Democratic parties. She was a strong critic of President Donald Trump.

She has also criticized other politicians. She disliked Bill Clinton for, in her view, moving the Democratic Party too far to the right. She has also expressed her dislike for Bernie Sanders. She often calls Ronald Reagan "the template for the stupid President," saying that before him, people didn't think a president could be unintelligent.

Lebowitz believes the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which deals with the right to bear arms, has been misunderstood. She argues it was intended to allow for the formation of militias, not for individuals to own any type of gun.

Personal Life

Lebowitz is a lesbian. She has been a close, longtime friend of the Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison.

She is famous for not using modern technology. She does not own a cellphone, a computer, or even a typewriter.

Work

Filmography

Film

Television

Bibliography

• Metropolitan Life, Dutton, 1978. ISBN: 978-0-525-15562-1
• Social Studies, Random House, 1981. ISBN: 978-0-394-51245-7
• The Fran Lebowitz Reader, Vintage Books, 1994, ISBN: 978-0-679-76180-8
• Mr. Chas and Lisa Sue Meet the Pandas, Knopf, 1994. ISBN: 978-0-679-86052-5

• Exterior Signs of Wealth (unfinished)
• Progress (unfinished)

See also

In Spanish: Fran Lebowitz para niños