Cravings: Judy Collins

Judy Collins speaks with William P. Kelly, The New York Public Library’s Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Research Libraries.

Judy Collins has inspired audiences with sublime vocals, boldly vulnerable personal life triumphs, and a firm commitment to social activism. In the 1960s, she evoked both the idealism and steely determination of a generation united against social and environmental injustices. Five decades later, her presence shines brightly as new generations bask in the glow of her 50-album body of work and heed inspiration from the spiritual discipline that has helped her to thrive in the music industry for half a century. The award-winning singer-songwriter’s rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” from her landmark 1967 album, Wildflowers, has been entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Her version of “Send in the Clowns,” a ballad written by Stephen Sondheim for the Broadway musical A Little Night Music, won Song of the Year at the 1975 Grammy Awards.

Her most recent book, Cravings, is a no-holds-barred account of her decades-long struggle with compulsive overeating and of the journey that led her to a solution. Alternating between chapters on her life and those of the many diet gurus she has encountered along the way (Atkins, Jean Nidetch of Weight Watchers, Andrew Weil, to name a few), the book is the culmination of Judy’s genuine desire to share what she’s learned—so that no one else has navigate her heart-rending path to recovery.

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