Francesca Lia Block's writing

She writes like a dangerous angel herself: heart open wide,  wings on fire, on a mission of passion. Urgency mainlines every   sentence. Former  taboos --- sex, in all varieties (gay, straight, gay-straight menages),  with all possible consequences (love, hate, pregnancy, much-loved eccentric babies, relationships that fall together and rupture agonizingly apart) --- are wide open, yet treated without a scrap of sensationalism, topics falling naturally under the innocent spell of the liquid poetic prose-poetry and transcendent characters. (A photo of Francesca Block, above, courtesy of alt.culture ).

The wholly original voice of Francesca Lia Block is part fairytale, part fantasy, part YA novel, part timeless come-off-the-page storytelling.  Her plots are a lucid dream. Her  characters' struggles are as contemporary in pacing and place, in what they eat and smell and where they travel in which vehicles, as they are eternal. They all seemed powered by the  burning, impossible rage to love. (Read the first chapter of Dangerous Angels, cover pictured left, at harperchildrens.com.

Francesca recently had her first child. She is pictured here with the father, Chris Schuette, dog Vincent Van Go Go Boots, and young Jasmine Angelina
Schuette. 

Francesca Lia Block on being edited by Charlotte

"Charlotte Zolotow is my fairy godmother.  When she and Joanna Cotler decided to publish Weetzie Bat in 1989, my life was transformed.

"Charlotte  gave me the opportunity to put my dreams into the world, where they could be viewed by others and become realities. Everything about her--the books she writes ( Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present) was my favorite book as a child), her brilliance, her kindness, her luminous radiance--- express a powerful love-magic that is so necessary in this world of ours.  

"I adore Charlotte Zolotow and am honored to have been initiated by her. " 

More about Francesca Lia Block

Two interviews with Francesca may be found on the web. The first is at a teen-run 'zine at  geocities.com/SoHo, while a second, more recent and detailed, is at Bookreporter.com. 

 For a more conventional analytical look at Francesca's very unconventional and non-analytical writing, visit  http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/winter98/platzner.html#block

And best of all --- join the FLB fans' e-group --- a bunch of sweet, hungry, sad, kickin', cookin', cranky, tough, tender true gurrrl goddesses and witchbabies themselves, at http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/witchbaby?referer=1 

Charlotte's Home Page / e-mail charlottesdaughter@charlottezolotow.com