Prayers for the Stolen (Clement) - Author Bio

Author Bio
• Birth—1960
• Where—Greenwich, Connecticut, USa
• Raised—Mexico City, Mexico
• Education—B.A., New York University; M.F.A, Columbia University
• Awards—(see below)
• Currently—lives in Mexico City, Mexico


Jennifer Clement is an American author who was raised and lives in Mexico. Born in 1960 in Greenwich, Connecticut, Clement moved in 1961 with her family to Mexico City, where she later attended Edron Academy. She moved to the USA to finish high school at Cranbrook Kingswood School in Bloomfield, Michigan, before studying English Literature and Anthropology at New York University. She received her MFA from the University of Southern Maine. Clement now lives in Mexico City and has two children.

Writing
Clement wrote Widow Basquiat (2000), considered one of the most important books on the painter Jean-Michel Basquiat. Her three novels include A True Story Based on Lies (2001), which was a finalist in the Orange Prize for Fiction in the United Kingdom, The Poison That Fascinates (2008), and Prayers for the Stolen (2014), her first novel to be published in the U.S.

She is also the author of several books of poetry: The Next Stranger (1993), Newton’s Sailor (1997), Lady of the Broom (2002), and Jennifer Clement: New and Selected Poems (2008). In addition to the influence of Chaucer and Shakespeare, Clement says her poetry is inspired by scientific writings, including those of Louis Pasteur and Isaac Newton.

Clement's prize-winning story "A Salamander-Child" has been published as an art book with work by the Mexican painter Gustavo Monroy. She has been translated into 22 languages.

Recognition and honors
Along with her sister Barbara Sibley, Clement is the co-director and founder of the San Miguel Poetry Week. She also severed as president of PEN Mexico and received numerous grants, poet-in residencies, and fellowships.

Honors
2012 - National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Fellowship in Fiction
2009 - President of PEN MEXICO (until 2012)
2002 - Finalist in the Orange Prize for Fiction , UK (for A True Story Based on Lies)
2001 - The Canongate Prize for New Writing
2000 - The Bookseller's Choice List, UK, (for the memoir Widow Basquiat)  
(Author bio dapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 5/15/2014.)