ELISE BLACKWELL

'Elise Blackwell' (b. July 18, 1964) is an American novelist, born in Austin, Texas. The daughter of botanists, Blackwell was educated at Louisiana State University before entering the Creative Writing Program at the University of California, Irvine, where she studied with Pulitzer-Prize winning author Michael Chabon. Blackwell's first novel, ''Hunger'', was published in 2003 by Little Brown, a division of Time Warner. The book won praise from Nobel Prize Laureate J.M. Coetzee and was selected by the ''L.A. Times'' and ''Sydney Morning Herald'' as a Notable Book for that year. ''Hunger'' is a historical dramatization of events surrounding the Siege of Leningrad. Blackwell has taught creative writing at Boise State University and the University of South Carolina. Blackwell's 2nd novel, ''The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish'' is due to be published in April 2007 by Unbridled Books.