Jill Ciment (born 1953) is a Canadian-American writer.

Biography

Ciment was born to a

Russian Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest po ...

family in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. When she was 10, she and her family immigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, settling in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. She studied art at the

California Institute of Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both th ...

(CalArts), under

John Baldessari John Anthony Baldessari (June 17, 1931 – January 2, 2020) was an American conceptual artist known for his work featuring found photography and appropriated images. He lived and worked in Santa Monica and Venice, California. Initially a paint ...

. She earned her BFA from CalArts in 1975. She received her MFA in creative writing from the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

in 1981. Ciment is a professor of English at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, United States, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,212 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gainesv ...

. Her novel, ''Heroic Measures'', was one of titles chosen by

Oprah Winfrey Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American television presenter, talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and media proprietor. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show' ...

's Book Club for 2009 summer reading. The book was also one of the top five finalists for the

Los Angeles Times Book Award Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize currently has nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), his ...

for 2010. ''

5 Flights Up ''5 Flights Up'' (released in the United Kingdom as ''Ruth & Alex'') is a 2014 American comedy-drama film directed by Richard Loncraine, written by Charlie Peters, and starring Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton. The film is based on the novel ''He ...

'', a film adaptation of ''Heroic Measures'' starring

Morgan Freeman Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, producer, and narrator. In a career spanning six decades, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award, as well as a nomination for a Tony ...

and

Diane Keaton Diane Keaton (née Hall; born January 5, 1946) is an American actress. She has received List of awards and nominations received by Diane Keaton, various accolades throughout her career spanning over five decades, including an Academy Award, a Bri ...

, was released in the U.S. on May 8, 2015. In 1969, she began an affair with her art teacher, Arnold Mesches, when she was 17 and in his class. He was 47, and married with two children. They moved in together the following year, married, and were together until his death in 2016. Her memoir, ''Half a Life'', reflected on their relationship together and was published in 1996. Following Arnold's death and in context of the

Me Too movement #MeToo is a social movement and Consciousness raising, awareness campaign against sexual abuse, sexual harassment and rape culture, in which women publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or sexual harassment. The phrase "Me Too" was init ...

, she re-examined their almost 50 year relationship with a new memoir, ''Consent''.

Grants and literary awards

* Two New York State Foundation for the Arts Fellowship (1996 and 2002) * National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (2005) * Guggenheim Foundation grant (2006) * The

Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize The Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize is a literary award presented annually for the "best book-length work of prose fiction" by an American woman. The award has been given by the Susan B. Anthony Institute for Gender and Women's Studies and the Depar ...

(2005) * NEA Japan Fellowship Prize

Works

Novels

* ''The Law of Falling Bodies'', Poseidon, 1993 * ''Teeth of the Dog'', Crown, 1998 * ''The Tattoo Artist'', Pantheon, 2005 * ''Heroic Measures'', Pantheon, 2009 * ''Act of God'', Pantheon, 2015 * ''The Hand That Feeds You'', (with

Amy Hempel Amy Hempel (born December 14, 1951) is an American short story writer and journalist. She teaches creative writing at the Michener Center for Writers. Life Hempel was born in Chicago, Illinois. She moved to California at age 16, which is wher ...

) writing as A.J. Rich, Scribner, 2015 * ''The Body in Question'', Pantheon, 2019

Short stories

Collections: * ''Small Claims'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1986, collection of 4 (or more) short stories: *: "Self-Portrait with Vanishing Point", "Genetics", "Astronomy", "Money" (novella)

Non-fiction

* ''Half a Life'', Crown, 1996 * ''Consent'', Pantheon, 2024

Adaptations

* ''Astronomy'' (1998), short directed by Susan Rogers, based on short story "Astronomy" * ''

'' (2014), film directed by

Richard Loncraine Richard Loncraine (born 20 October 1946) is a British film and television director. Loncraine was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Loncraine received early training in the features department of the BBC, including a season directing i ...

, based on novel ''Heroic Measures''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ciment, Jill 1955 births Living people University of Florida faculty Writers from Montreal California Institute of the Arts alumni University of California, Irvine alumni National Endowment for the Arts Fellows