Brett Ellen Block
Encyclopedia
Life
Block was born and raised in Summit, New Jersey. She received her undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from the University of MichiganUniversity of Michigan
The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...
, where she was awarded the Hopwood and Haugh Prizes for Fiction Writing. She went on to earn graduate degrees at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and the University of East Anglia
University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
’s Fiction Writing Program.
Her debut collection of short stories, Destination Known, won the Drue Heinz Literary Prize, and she is a recipient of the Michener-Copernicus Fellowship. She is also the author of the critically acclaimed novel The Grave of God’s Daughter and the Macavity Award-nominated thriller The Lightning Rule
Writing under the name "Ellen Block" she penned the woman's fiction novel The Language of Sand.
She lives in Los Angeles and is currently at work on the sequel to The Language of Sand.
Awards
- 2003 Michener-Copernicus FellowshipMichener-Copernicus FellowshipThe Michener-Copernicus Fellowship is a literary award. Past recipients include:* Anthony Swofford* Peter Craig* Emily Barton* Brett Ellen Brock* Justin Kramon* Malena Watrous* Andrew J. Porter* Nam Le* Kevin Gonzalez* Drew Keenan...
- 2001 Drue Heinz Literature PrizeDrue Heinz Literature PrizeThe Drue Heinz Literature Prize is a major American literary award for short fiction in the English language.This prize of the University of Pittsburgh Press in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA was initiated in 1981 by Mrs. Drue Heinz and developed by Frederick A. Hetzel...
, for Destination Known