Blake Nelson is an American

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

adult An adult is an animal that has reached full growth. The biological definition of the word means an animal reaching sexual maturity and thus capable of reproduction. In the human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social an ...

and

children's literature Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

. He grew up in Portland,

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, and attended

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. He lives in

Hillsboro, Oregon Hillsboro ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon and is the county seat of Washington County, Oregon, Washington County. Situated in the Tualatin Valley on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area, the city hosts many High tech, high-te ...

, in the

Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metropolitan area, metro area with its urban area, core in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington (state), Washington. It has 5 principal cities, the largest being Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Man ...

Biography

Nelson began his career writing short humor pieces for '' Details'' magazine in the mid-'90s. These articles, with titles including "How to be an Expatriot" and "How to Live on $3600 a year", explored the

slacker A slacker is someone who habitually work aversion, avoids work or lacks work ethic. Origin According to different sources, the term "slacker" dates back to about 1790 or 1898. "Slacker" gained some recognition during the UK, British Gezira Sche ...

West Coast lifestyle. His first novel ''

Girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. While the term ''girl'' has other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.com, "Girl"'' Retrieved January 2, 2008. '' daughter'' or '' girlfriend'' regardless of age ...

'' was excerpted in '' Sassy'' magazine in three successive issues. The mail ''Sassy'' received in response was key to the eventual publication of ''Girl''. ''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 In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...

novel by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

young adult imprint Simon Pulse in October 2007. Nelson's novel '' Paranoid Park'' was made into a film of the same name by

Gus Van Sant Gus Green Van Sant Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American filmmaker, photographer, painter, and musician. He has earned acclaim as an independent film, independent auteur. His films typically deal with themes of marginalized subcultures. His ...

. The novel, about skateboarding teenagers, won the prestigious Grinzane Cavour Prize in Italy. The film won a special 60th Anniversary prize at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

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''.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. The Seattle ''Stranger'' called the ''Girl/Dream School'' series "The missing link between

Bret Easton Ellis Bret Easton Ellis (born March 7, 1964) is an American author and screenwriter. Ellis was one of the literary Brat Pack (literary), Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique as a writer is the expression of extreme acts ...

and

Tao Lin Tao Lin (; born July 2, 1983) is an American novelist, poet, essayist, short-story writer, and artist. He has published four novels, a novella, two books of poetry, a collection of short stories, and a memoir, as well as an extensive assortment o ...

." Nelson's 2011 novel '' Recovery Road'' was adapted by Disney into a TV drama of the same name. It premiered in January 2016 on ABC Family (Freeform). In 2023, Girl Noise Press published ''The City Wants You Alone'', the third novel in the GIRL trilogy. Blake Nelson has also contributed poetry, essays and non-fiction to ''The New York Times, The Quarterly (Gordon Lish), The San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Post'' and ''Conde Nast Traveler.''

Bibliography

* ''

'', Simon & Schuster, 1994, (reissue 2007,2016) * ''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 * ''Boy'', Simon & Schuster, 2017 * ''Phoebe Will Destroy You'', Simon & Schuster, 2019 * ''The City Wants You Alone (GIRL #3)'' Girl Noise Press 2023

References

External links

* ** **
''Recovery Road''
at Internet Movie Data Base
rookiemag.com interviewxojane.com interview
*''Dream School'' review, a
nytimes.comNPR: Fresh Air interview
*
Teenage Film InterviewSadie Magazine Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Blake Writers from Portland, Oregon American male screenwriters Living people Wesleyan University alumni Jesuit High School (Beaverton, Oregon) alumni People from Hillsboro, Oregon Screenwriters from Oregon Year of birth missing (living people) American writers of young adult literature