Blake Nelson is an American author of

adult An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

and children's literature. He grew up in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, Oregon, and attended

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the c ...

and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

. He lives in

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

, in the

Portland metropolitan area The Portland metropolitan area is a metro area in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington centered on the principal city of Portland, Oregon. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) identifies it as the Portland–Vancouver–Hillsboro ...

Biography

Nelson began his career writing short humor pieces for ''

Details Detail(s) or The Detail(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''Details'' (film), a 2003 Swedish film * ''The Details'' (film), a 2011 American film * ''The Detail'', a Canadian television series * "The Detail" (''The Wire''), a television epis ...

'' 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 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 British Gezira Scheme in the earl ...

West Coast lifestyle. His first novel ''

Girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a '' woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionar ...

'' 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 A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

novel by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pub ...

young adult

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

Simon Pulse in October 2007. Nelson's novel '' Paranoid Park'' was made into a film of the same name by Gus Van Sant. The novel, about skateboarding teenagers, won the prestigious

Grinzane Cavour Prize The Grinzane Cavour Prize (1989–2009) was an Italian literary award established in 1982 by Francesco Meotto. The annual award ceremony took place in the medieval castle of Grinzane Cavour. The goal of the prize was to attract young people to rea ...

in Italy. The film won a special 60th Anniversary prize at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

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, screenwriter, short-story writer, and director. Ellis was first regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack and is a self-proclaimed satirist whose trademark technique, as a ...

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 of ...

." Nelson's 2011 novel ''

Recovery Road ''Recovery Road'' is a novel for teenagers by author Blake Nelson. The book is centered on a teenager, Maddie Graham, at the rehab center, Spring Meadows, and how she overcomes her addiction to alcohol and drugs. The book shows how Maddie transf ...

'' was adapted by Disney into a TV drama of the same name. It premiered in January 2016 on ABC Family (Freeform). 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.'' He currently writes travel pieces at https://blakenelson.substack.com/

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 * ''

'', Scholastic Books, 2011 * ''Dream School (GIRL #2)'', Figment, 2011 * ''

The Prince of Venice Beach The Prince of Venice Beach is a 2014 young adult novel by Blake Nelson. Plot summary The book follows a seventeen-year-old runaway named Robert "Cali" Callahan who is hired to track down other runaway youth. What should be a simple assignment qui ...

'', Little Brown, 2014 * ''The City Wants You Alone (GIRL #3)'', Amazon Kindle, 2015 * ''Boy'', Simon & Schuster, 2017 * ''Phoebe Will Destroy You'', Simon & Schuster, 2018

References

External links

* * ** **
''Recovery Road''
at Internet Movie Data Base
rookiemag.com interviewxojane.com interview
*''Dream School'' review, a
nytimes.comNPR: Fresh Air interviewHairpin InterviewTeenage 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)