About Ilene

When I was 60 years old, I wrote a memoir about my life before I had children. I have 5 children.  They didn’t think I had a life before I was their mother. Sometimes even I wondered.

The book was Love, Loss, and What I Wore. It sold a lot of copies and was the inspiration for a hit Off-Broadway play that broke Off-Broadway records.

When I was 62, my second book was published. It’s called What We Do For Love. I had been looking for Prince Charming but I never found him. Cinderella did.

My third book was published when I was 65. It’s called Mother of the Bride: The Dream, The Reality, The Search for a Perfect Dress. Childbirth is a lot easier than being mother of the bride.

At 70, my fourth book, Makeovers at the Beauty Counter of Happiness was published. I’m still looking for the perfect mascara.

I didn’t write another book for a few years. I cleaned my closets.

When I was 75, my book The Smartest Woman I Know was published. It’s not about me.

I illustrate all of my books but I don’t draw well.

Oprah did a profile of me, my books have been translated into many languages I can’t speak, I’ve written for The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Ladies Home Journal, and many other magazines, and I speak to women’s groups and book clubs all over the country.

If someone had told me all this would happen to me, I would have told them to stop smoking whatever they were smoking.

Thank you and all good wishes.