Francesca Lia Block | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | December 3, 1962 Los Angeles, California, US |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Language | English |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley |
| Period | 1989–present |
| Notable awards | Margaret Edwards Award 2005 |
| Children | 2 [1] |
Francesca Lia Block (born December 3, 1962) is an American writer of adult and young-adult literature. She wrote the Weetzie Bat series, [2] which she began while a student at UC Berkeley.
Block was born in Los Angeles in 1962. Her mother was a poet and her father was the screenwriter and painter Irving Block. [3] She attended North Hollywood High School [4] and the University of California, Berkeley, [5] and later studied for her MFA from the University of California at Riverside. [6]
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. [6]
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. [7]
In 2014, Block was named Writer-in-Residence at Pasadena City College. [8] 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. [9]
Block is known for her use of imagery, especially in describing the city of Los Angeles. [10] One New York Times Book Review critic said, "Block writes about the real Los Angeles better than anyone since Raymond Chandler." [11]
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, [12] as well as Emily Dickinson. [3] She has been compared to S.E. Hinton because of themes like sex, death, drugs, and broken homes that occur in her works. [3] Many of her books have been categorized as young adult fiction, but Block has also written adult fiction, non-fiction, short stories, and poetry. [13] [14]
Block has a son and a daughter. [3] [6] She lives in Los Angeles. [15]
Weetzie Bat, or Dangerous Angels series
| Omnibus editions [18]
|
House Of Hearts (Rare Bird Books, 2022)
Collections
| Non-fiction and other
|
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Weetzie Bat is the debut novel of Francesca Lia Block, published by HarperCollins in 1989. It inaugurated her Dangerous Angels series for young adults.
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Dangerous Angels, also known as the Weetzie Bat series, is a young adult fiction series by Francesca Lia Block. The series consists of seven novels: Weetzie Bat, Witch Baby, Cherokee Bat and the Goat Guys, Missing Angel Juan, Baby Be-Bop, Necklace of Kisses and Pink Smog: Becoming Weetzie Bat. The books follow main character, Weetzie Bat and her friends and family members, who all live in Los Angeles.
Amy Sarig King is an American writer of short fiction and young adult fiction. She is the recipient of the 2022 Margaret Edwards Award for her "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". She is also the only two-time recipient of the Michael L. Printz Award for Young Adult Literature for Dig (2019) and as editor and contributor to The Collectors: Stories (2023).
Elizabeth Acevedo is an American poet and author. In September 2022, the Poetry Foundation named her the year's Young People's Poet Laureate.
Baby Be-Bop is the fifth book in the Dangerous Angels series by Francesca Lia Block. It was first published during September 1995 through HarperCollins Publishers. Baby Be-Bop takes place prior to the events in Weetzie Bat and follows Weetzie's best friend, Dirk McDonald.
