Blake Nelson
| Blake Nelson | |
|---|---|
| Born |
August 31, 1965 Portland, Oregon |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater |
Wesleyan University New York University |
| Notable works |
Girl Paranoid Park Recovery Road |
| Website | |
|
www | |
Blake Nelson (born August 31, 1965)[1] is an American author of adult and children's literature.[2][3] He grew up in Portland, Oregon, and attended Wesleyan University and New York University.[4] He lives in Hillsboro, Oregon, in the Portland metropolitan area.[5]
Nelson began his career writing short humor pieces for Details magazine in the mid-nineties. These articles, with titles like "How to Date a Feminist" and "How to Live on $3600 a year", explored the slacker west coast lifestyle.[4]
His first novel Girl was excerpted in Sassy magazine in three successive issues.[6] The mail Sassy received in response was key to the eventual publication of Girl.[7] Girl has since been published in eight foreign countries and made into a film of the same name. The novel was reissued as a young adult novel by Simon & Schuster young adult imprint Simon Pulse in October 2007.
Nelson's novel Paranoid Park[8] was made into a film of the same name by Gus Van Sant. The book won the prestigious Grinzane Cavour Prize in Italy.[9] The film won a special 60th Anniversary prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007.
A sequel to his first novel Girl, Dream School was released in December 2011 and follows the protagonist, Andrea Marr, to Wellington College, an eastern liberal arts college modeled on Wesleyan, Nelson's alma mater.[10] The Seattle Stranger called the Girl/Dream School series "The missing link between Bret Easton Ellis and Tao Lin."
Nelson's newest novel The Prince of Venice Beach (2015) is a finalist for the 2015 Edgar Award.
Nelson's novel Recovery Road (2011) has been adapted into a TV drama of the same name. It will premiere in January 2016 on a new network called Freeform, which will replace ABC Family.
Bibliography
- Girl, Simon & Schuster, 1994, (re-issue 2007)
- Exile, Scribners, 1997
- User, Versus Press, 2001
- The New Rules of High School, Penguin, 2003
- Rock Star Superstar, Penguin, 2005
- Prom Anonymous, Penguin, 2006
- Gender Blender, Random House, 2006
- Paranoid Park, Penguin, 2006
- They Came From Below, Tor Books, 2007
- Destroy All Cars, Scholastic Books, 2009
- Recovery Road, Scholastic Books, 2011
- Dream School (GIRL #2), Figment, 2011
- The Prince of Venice Beach, Little Brown, 2014
- The City Wants You Alone (GIRL #3), Amazon Kindle, 2015
References
- ↑ Blake Nelson - IMDb
- ↑ "Children's Literature Profile". Childrenslit.com. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
- ↑ "Interviews:Violence, and Silence, in Nelson's Paranoid Park". NPR: Fresh Air. 2008-03-27. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
- 1 2 "Blake Nelson Teen Novelist: Bio". Blakenelsonteennovelist.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
- ↑ "Portland Film Festival 2014 Schedule: Blake Nelson". Sched. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
- ↑ Mynx, Maradoll (2010-03-04). "About a Boy: Blake Nelson, Author of "Girl". Bust.com. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
- ↑ "Girl: Blake Nelson". The-write-stuff.com.au. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
- ↑ "Back in Portland, the Latest Outsider Has a Skateboard - Question". nytimes.com. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
- ↑ "Google Translate". Translate.google.com. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
- ↑ The Stuff That ‘Dream School’ Is Made Of, New York Times' review. Second and third paragraphs. By Naomi Fry. 6 December 2011. Retrieved 18 January 2012.
External links
- Official website
- Blake Nelson at the Internet Movie Database
- Girl at the Internet Movie Database
- Paranoid Park at the Internet Movie Database
- Recovery Road at Internet Movie Data Base
- rookiemag.com interview
- xojane.com interview
- Dream School review, at nytimes.com
- NPR: Fresh Air interview
- Hairpin Interview
- Teenage Film Interview