[5] Newman grew up in Anchorage, Alaska and Baltimore, Maryland, traveling between the homes of her two parents.

Her childhood and remote wilderness experiences were the basis of her memoir Still Points North (Dial Press, 2013).

After working primarily in nonfiction, with articles and essays in The New York Times,[6] Vogue, Oprah.com,[7] O, The Oprah Magazine[8] and Bookforum,[9] she turned to fiction.

In 2020, her work was recognized in the Best American Short Stories,[15] the Pushcart Prize,[16] The American Society of Magazine Editor's fiction prize[17] for work in the Paris Review, as well awarded the Terry Southern Prize for “humor, wit, and sprezzatura" at the Paris Review.

[18] Newman has received fiction fellowships from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the Atlantic Center for the Arts and the Corporation of Yaddo.