Debra Di Blasi
Encyclopedia
Debra Di Blasi is an author
, screenwriter
and publisher.
She received the 2003 James C. McCormick Fellowship in Fiction from the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, the 1991 Eyster Prize in Fiction, the 2008 Diagram Innovative Fiction Award, 2008 Inspiration Grant from Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City, and three Pushcart Prize nominations, among other awards. She was a finalist in the Heekin Foundation’s Novel-in-Progress. Drought & Say What You Like won the 1998 Thorpe Menn Book Award.
The New York Times Book Review
praised her story collection Prayers of an Accidental Nature for its "clear, resonant prose, laced with bittersweet humor." Likewise
Publishers Weekly
wrote that "Di Blasi's style and her objective distance and comprehension of her chosen subject mark her as a very psychologically driven, very talented writer."
Her multimedia project, The Jiri Chronicles, contains over 500 individual works of prose, poetry, music, interviews, visual art, websites an ironic consumer products. Poet and editor Kevin Prufer
described the work as "chaotic, brilliant and, like Jirí Cêch himself, possibly quite mad. With frenetic energy, Di Blasi mixes personal narrative with ad copy, traditional fiction with newspaper clippings, email messages, reportage, collage, and scholarship. The resulting concoction is consistently surprising, challenging, invigorating, and, most surprisingly of all, often deeply moving. Di Blasi has a mind unlike anyone else writing fiction today, and this is her finest work yet."
Her innovative writing is frequently included in related literary anthologies
, and has appeared in the journals New Letters
, The Iowa Review
, Chelsea
, Boulevard
, Notre Dame Review, and many others. Her stories have been adapted to radio, film, theatre and audio CD in the U.S. and abroad.
Screenwriting credits include The Walking Wounded, finalist in the 1996 Austin Screenwriters Competition, and Drought, for which she won the 1999 Cinovation Screenwriting Award. Drought was directed by Lisa Moncure won a host of national and international awards. It was one of only six U.S. films included in the Universe Elle special section of the 2000 Cannes Film Festival
.
She was the art columnist for The Pitch magazine, and taught experimental writing, hyperfiction, mixed media fiction, and other writing courses at Kansas City Art Institute
for seven years. She teaches and frequently lectures on 21st Century narrative forms at universities and conferences including &NOW Conference and Associated Writing Programs Conference.
She is founding publisher of Jaded Ibis Press.
Debra Di Blasi received an &NOW award in 2009 for her stories “The Incomplete But Real History of The Jiri Chronicles Illustrated by The Real Jiri Cech” and “Products” published in The &NOW Awards: The Best Innovative Writing in 2009. Di Blasi is a regular participant in the biennial &NOW festival.
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and publisher.
She received the 2003 James C. McCormick Fellowship in Fiction from the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, the 1991 Eyster Prize in Fiction, the 2008 Diagram Innovative Fiction Award, 2008 Inspiration Grant from Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City, and three Pushcart Prize nominations, among other awards. She was a finalist in the Heekin Foundation’s Novel-in-Progress. Drought & Say What You Like won the 1998 Thorpe Menn Book Award.
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read book review publications in the industry. The offices are located near Times Square in New York...
praised her story collection Prayers of an Accidental Nature for its "clear, resonant prose, laced with bittersweet humor." Likewise
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
wrote that "Di Blasi's style and her objective distance and comprehension of her chosen subject mark her as a very psychologically driven, very talented writer."
Her multimedia project, The Jiri Chronicles, contains over 500 individual works of prose, poetry, music, interviews, visual art, websites an ironic consumer products. Poet and editor Kevin Prufer
Kevin Prufer
Kevin D. Prufer is an American poet, academic, editor, and essayist. His most recent books are In A Beautiful Country and National Anthem...
described the work as "chaotic, brilliant and, like Jirí Cêch himself, possibly quite mad. With frenetic energy, Di Blasi mixes personal narrative with ad copy, traditional fiction with newspaper clippings, email messages, reportage, collage, and scholarship. The resulting concoction is consistently surprising, challenging, invigorating, and, most surprisingly of all, often deeply moving. Di Blasi has a mind unlike anyone else writing fiction today, and this is her finest work yet."
Her innovative writing is frequently included in related literary anthologies
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
, and has appeared in the journals New Letters
New Letters (magazine)
New Letters, the name it has been published under since 1970, is one of the oldest literary magazines in the United States and continues to publish award-winning poems and fiction.-History & Editors:...
, The Iowa Review
The Iowa Review
The Iowa Review is an American literary magazine that publishes fiction, poetry, essays, and reviews.Founded in 1970, this magazine is issued three times a year, during the months of April, August, and December. Originally, it was released on a quarterly basis. This frequency of publication lasted...
, Chelsea
Chelsea (magazine)
Chelsea was a small American, twice-a-year literary magazine based in New York City. The influential journal, edited for many years by Sonia Raiziss, published poetry, prose, book reviews and translations with an emphasis on translations, art, and cross-cultural exchange.-History:In 1958, The...
, Boulevard
Boulevard (magazine)
Boulevard magazine, published by St. Louis University, is an American literary magazine that publishes award-winning prose and poetry. Boulevard has been called "one of the half-dozen best literary journals" by Poet Laureate Daniel Hoffman in The Philadelphia Inquirer.- Overview :Richard Burgin...
, Notre Dame Review, and many others. Her stories have been adapted to radio, film, theatre and audio CD in the U.S. and abroad.
Screenwriting credits include The Walking Wounded, finalist in the 1996 Austin Screenwriters Competition, and Drought, for which she won the 1999 Cinovation Screenwriting Award. Drought was directed by Lisa Moncure won a host of national and international awards. It was one of only six U.S. films included in the Universe Elle special section of the 2000 Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
.
She was the art columnist for The Pitch magazine, and taught experimental writing, hyperfiction, mixed media fiction, and other writing courses at Kansas City Art Institute
Kansas City Art Institute
The Kansas City Art Institute is a private, independent, four-year college of fine arts and design founded in 1885 in Kansas City, Missouri....
for seven years. She teaches and frequently lectures on 21st Century narrative forms at universities and conferences including &NOW Conference and Associated Writing Programs Conference.
She is founding publisher of Jaded Ibis Press.
Debra Di Blasi received an &NOW award in 2009 for her stories “The Incomplete But Real History of The Jiri Chronicles Illustrated by The Real Jiri Cech” and “Products” published in The &NOW Awards: The Best Innovative Writing in 2009. Di Blasi is a regular participant in the biennial &NOW festival.