Francesca Lia Block
{{short description|American writer (born 1963)}}
{{infobox writer
| name = Francesca Lia Block
| birth_name =
| image = Francesca Lia Block photographed by Nicolas Sage Photography.jpg
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1962|12|3|mf=y}}
| birth_place = Los Angeles, California, US
| occupation = Writer
| language = English
| nationality =
| alma_mater = University of California, Berkeley
| period = 1989–present
| genre =
| notableworks =
| awards = {{awards |Margaret Edwards Award |2005}}
| website =
| children = 2{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-ca-jc-francesca-lia-block-20130825-story.html|title=Francesca Lia Block and her post-apocalyptic year|last=Brodesser-Akner|first=Taffy|date=August 22, 2013|website=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2019-03-08}}
}}
Francesca Lia Block (born December 3, 1962) is an American writer of adult and young-adult literature. She wrote the Weetzie Bat series,{{cite web| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/23/books/23bloc.html|work=The New York Times |access-date=2012-03-17 |date=2005-05-23 |title=Writing Frankly, Young-Adult Author Pushes Limits|author=Dinitia Smith}} which she began while a student at UC Berkeley.
Early life and education
Block was born in Los Angeles in 1962. Her mother was a poet and her father was the screenwriter and painter Irving Block.{{cite news |last=Rogers |first=John |date=December 2, 2005 |title=Weetzie Bat is back, and grown up, as her creator confronts middle age |url=https://www.fosters.com/story/lifestyle/2005/12/02/weetzie-bat-is-back/52584197007/ |work=Foster's Daily Democrat |access-date=September 22, 2023}} She attended North Hollywood High School{{cite magazine |last=Campbell |first=Patricia J.|date=January–February 1993 |title=People are talking about ... Francesca Lia Block |magazine=The Horn Book Magazine}} and the University of California, Berkeley,{{cite news |last=Hotaling |first=Debra |date=November 14, 1999 |title=The Scribe of Shangri-La |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-nov-14-tm-33223-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=October 6, 2022}} and later studied for her MFA from the University of California at Riverside.{{cite web |url=https://lithub.com/francesca-lia-block-is-a-lot-more-than-weetzie-bat/ |title=Francesca Lia Block is a Lot More than Weetzie Bat |last=Romanoff |first=Zan |date=May 7, 2018 |website=Literary Hub |access-date=March 19, 2024}}
Career
Block writes both novels and poetry. Her first two books, Moon Harvest (1978) and Season of Green (1979), were small-press illustrated poetry collections, now out of print. Since then, she has released several standalone collections of poetry, as well as incorporating poetry and lyrics into many of her novels. She has published over 40 books.
Block did not originally start out with an editor, but was published by using her connections. She attributed her success partly to publishers being interested in shorter books.{{Cite web|url=http://www.loveispop.com/interviews/just-write-an-exclusive-interview-with-francesca-lia-block/|title=JUST WRITE: AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH FRANCESCA LIA BLOCK|website=www.loveispop.com|date=18 August 2016 |language=en-US|access-date=2018-04-23}}
In 2014, Block was named Writer-in-Residence at Pasadena City College.{{Cite web|url=http://www.francescaliablock.com/about|title=Francesca Lia Block - About|last=Hillary|website=www.francescaliablock.com|language=en-gb|access-date=2018-04-23}} Block is a member of the Authors Guild, Authors League of America, and the Writers Guild of America.
In 2018, it was confirmed that Weetzie Bat would be produced as a feature film, with Justin Kelly attached as director. Block wrote the screenplay for the film.{{Cite news|url=https://deadline.com/2018/07/anya-taylor-joy-nick-robinson-sasha-lane-weetzie-bat-film-adaptation-1202424824/|title=Anya Taylor-Joy, Nick Robinson & Sasha Lane Star In 'Weetzie Bat' Film Adaptation|last=N'Duka|first=Amanda|date=2018-07-11|work=Deadline|access-date=2018-07-16|language=en-US}}
Block is known for her use of imagery, especially in describing the city of Los Angeles.{{cite web|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2012/03/francesca-lia-block-takes-mortgage-woes-public.html|work=The Los Angeles Times|author=Carolyn Kellogg|date=2012-03-12|accessdate=2012-03-17|title=Francesca Lia Block takes her mortgage woes public}} One New York Times Book Review critic said, "Block writes about the real Los Angeles better than anyone since Raymond Chandler."{{cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2011/10/25/author-francesca-lia-block-on-occupy-wall-street-meditations-in-the-dark.html|publisher=CNBC|access-date=2012-03-17|title=Author Francesca Lia Block on Occupy Wall Street: Meditations in the Dark|date=2011-10-25|author=Francesca Lia Block|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927233713/http://www.cnbc.com/id/45016703/Author_Francesca_Lia_Block_on_Occupy_Wall_Street_Meditations_in_the_Dark|archive-date=2013-09-27}}
Writing style and genres
Block sees her books as being in the tradition of magical realism, and she has said that she was heavily influenced by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende,{{cite magazine |last=Williams |first=Wilda |date=August 1, 2005 |title=Q&A: Francesca Lia Block |magazine=Library Journal}} as well as Emily Dickinson. She has been compared to S.E. Hinton because of themes like sex, death, drugs, and broken homes that occur in her works. Many of her books have been categorized as young adult fiction, but Block has also written adult fiction, non-fiction, short stories, and poetry.{{cite magazine |last=Pepper |first=Rachel |date=April 2003 |title=Francesca Lia Block (Notes from Far-Flung Places) |magazine=Curve |publisher=Avalon Media}}{{cite magazine |last=Di Marzo |first=Cindy |date=May 18, 1998 |title=Harper Introduces Francesca Lia Block to a Wider Audience |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/19980518/23406-pw-harper-introduces-francesca-lia-block-to-a-wider-audience.html |magazine=Publishers Weekly |access-date=September 17, 2024}}
Personal life
Block has a son and a daughter. She lives in Los Angeles.{{cite magazine |last=Bolle |first=Sonja |date=July 21, 2008 |title=Francesca Lia Block: staying in the force field of her audience |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20080721/1292-francesca-lia-block.html |magazine=Publishers Weekly |access-date=September 17, 2024}}
Awards and nominations
- 1996: Baby Be-Bop was nominated for the Lambda Literary Award for Young Adult/Children's Book
- 2001: Dangerous Angels was inducted into the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Hall of Fame
- 2005: American Library Association (ALA) Margaret A. Edwards Award for "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature" for the first five Weetzie Bat books.
- 2009: Weetzie Bat won the Phoenix Award from the Children's Literature Association as the best English-language children's book that did not win a major award when it was originally published.
Bibliography
Weetzie Bat, or Dangerous Angels series
|
;Standalone novels
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
- Ecstasia (1993)
- The Hanged Man (1994)
- Primavera (1994)
- I Was A Teenage Fairy (1998)
- Violet and Claire (1999)
- The Rose and the Beast (2000)
- Echo (2001)
- Wasteland (2003)
- Ruby (2006)
- Psyche In A Dress (2006)
- Blood Roses (2008)
- Quakeland (2008)
- The Waters and the Wild (2009)
- Pretty Dead (2009)
- The Frenzy (2010)
- House of Dolls (2010)
- The Elementals (St. Martin's Press, 2013)
- Love in the Time of Global Warming (2013)
- Teen Spirit (2014)
- The Island of Excess Love (2014)
- Beyond the Pale Motel (2014)
- My Miserable Life (2016), as F.L. Block
- Lost Children (2021), audiobook
{{div col end}}House Of Hearts (Rare Bird Books, 2022)
Collections
|Non-fiction and other
|
See also
{{Portal bar |Children's literature |Speculative fiction |Los Angeles }}
References
{{reflist |25em |refs=
{{ISFDB name|2946}}. Retrieved 2014-09-04.
[http://www.childlitassn.org/images/resources/resources-Children-squo-s_Lit_-_Phoenix_Award_Brochure_2012.pdf "Phoenix Award Brochure 2012"]{{dead link|date=January 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}. Children's Literature Association. Retrieved 2012-12-11.
See also the current homepage [http://www.childlitassn.org/index.php?page=about&family=awards&category=06--Phoenix_Award&display=27 "Phoenix Award"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320175700/http://www.childlitassn.org/index.php?page=about&family=awards&category=06--Phoenix_Award&display=27 |date=2012-03-20 }}.
[http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/bookawards/margaretaedwards/maeprevious/05block "2005 Margaret A. Edwards Award Winner"]. Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). American Library Association (ALA).
[http://www.ala.org/yalsa/edwards-award "Edwards Award"]. YALSA. ALA. Retrieved 2013-10-10.
}}
External links
{{Library resources box|by=yes|online books=no|viaf=85684838|lccn=n79097475}}
- {{official website}}
- {{ISFDB name|id=2946}}
- {{IMDb name|6907562}}
- [https://www.youtube.com/user/Superfilmgirl#grid/user/F9EFAD9B873B5D7B/ Weetzie Bat Screenplay Reading]
- [http://savethefaeriecottage.blogspot.com/2012/03/beautiful-video-of-faerie-cottage.html Save Francesca's Faerie Cottage]
- [http://lccn.loc.gov/n88020519 Francesca Lia Block] at Library of Congress Authorities — with 38 catalog records
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Block, Francesca Lia}}
Category:20th-century American novelists
Category:21st-century American novelists
Category:American children's writers
Category:American fantasy writers
Category:American women short story writers
Category:American women novelists
Category:Margaret A. Edwards Award winners
Category:Writers from Los Angeles
Category:American women children's writers
Category:American women science fiction and fantasy writers
Category:20th-century American women writers
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:American women writers of young adult literature
Category:American writers of young adult literature