Jonathan Blum (writer, born 1967)

Background

Jonathan Blum is an American writer. He was born in Philadelphia on June 3, 1967, grew up in Miami, Florida and currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

Career

Blum graduated from UCLA and the Iowa Writers' Workshop. He has taught fiction writing at The University of Iowa and at Drew University.

He has published short stories, essays, poems, and a novella.

Fiction

Blum is the author of Last Word, a novella, named one of 2013's "best books to give as gifts" by Iowa Public Radio. Last Word, brought out by independent publishing house Rescue Press, won critical notice from such journals as The Iowa Review, Heavy Feather Review, and Pank. It was also reviewed in the Jewish Book Council book review and by The Writing University In November 2013, Last Word was an Editor's Pick at NewPages. Last Word was also on the Small Press Distribution fiction best seller list for six months, November 2013 - April 2014.

Blum’s short stories have appeared in The Carolina Quarterly, Green Mountains Review, Gulf Coast (magazine), New York Stories, Northwest Review, Other Voices, Playboy, Sonora Review, and Zaum.

Awards

Blum has won the Michener-Copernicus Society of America literary award, the Playboy Magazine College Fiction Contest, a Helene Wurlitzer Foundation fellowship, and a Hawthornden fellowship.

The personal essay "May Be Habit Forming" was a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2000, edited by Robert Atwan and Alan Lightman.