Jennifer Clement studied English Literature and Anthropology at New York University and also studied French literature in Paris, France. She is currently the President of PEN Mexico.
Clement is the author of the memoir Widow Basquiat that made the "Booksellers' Choice" list in the United Kingdom and two novels: A True Story Based on Lies, which was a finalist in the Orange Prize for Fiction in the United Kingdom, and The Poison That Fascinates. She is also the author of several books of poetry: The Next Stranger (with an introduction by W.S. Merwin), Newton’s Sailor, Lady of the Broom and Jennifer Clement: New and Selected Poems. Her prize-winning story A Salamander-Child has been published as an art book with work by the Mexican painter Gustavo Monroy. Clement’s work has been translated into 10 languages.
Jennifer Clement was awarded the National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship in Fiction 2012. Clement was the recipient of the Canongate Prize for her story A Salamander-Child. In 2007, she received a MacDowell Fellowship and the MacDowell Colony named her the Robert and Stephanie Olmsted Fellow for 2007-08 and she has twice been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Clement was awarded Mexico's prestigious "Sistema Nacional de Creadores" grant and she is also the recipient of a US-Mexico Fund for Culture (FONCA, Fundacion Cultural Bancomer, the Rockefeller Foundation) grant for the San Miguel Poetry Week, which she founded in 1997 with her sister, Barbara Sibley.
Clement was the Thornton Writer-in-Residence at Lynchburg College, VA and the Sandburg-Auden-Stein Poet-in-Residence at Olivet College, MI.
Clement's work has appeared in numerous anthologies such The Best of The American Voice (USA), INUITS numéro 3, (France), Mexican Poetry Today, 20/20 Voices, Shearsman Books (UK), and Verse and the Universe (poems about science), Milkweed Editions, (USA). She is also included in the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Writers and Their Work (Facts of File Library of World Literature). The London Times, Akzente, The Herald, Poetry London, The Nation, The American Poetry Review, National Geographic, The Warwick Review and The Independent Magazine, among others, have published her stories, poems and essays.
The composer Jan Gilbert created an “Eleven Song Setting” of Clement’s The Lady of the Broom for soprano, flute, viola, and violoncello.
The French theater company Traits de Marque (under the director Marco Pejrolo) has adapted her novel A True Story Based on Lies for the stage and the play will premiere, in Paris, France in 2012.
Jennifer Clement lives in Mexico City, Mexico.
Contents |
In 2011 Clement was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for fiction 2012. Clement is also the recipient of Mexico's prestigious "Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte" grant and was honored with the UK's Canongate Prize for her story "A Salamander-Child". In 2001 she was also the recipient of a US-Mexico Fund for Culture (FONCA, Fundacion Cultural Bancomer, the Rockefeller Foundation) grant for the San Miguel Poetry Week, which she founded in 1997 with her sister, Barbara Sibley. She is a MacDowell Colony Fellow and was the Thornton Writer-in-Residence at Lynchburg College in Virginia and the Sandburg-Auden-Stein Poet-in-Residence at Olivet College in Michigan.
Clement's work has appeared in numerous anthologies including The Best of The American Voice and Akzente, The London Times, The Sunday Herald, Poetry London, National Geographic, The Nation, The American Poetry Review and The Independent magazine, among others, have published her stories, poems and essays. In 2007 the composer Jan Gilbert wrote an “Eleven Song Setting” of Clement’s The Lady of the Broom for soprano flute/alto flute, viola and violoncello.
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, before studying English and anthropology at New York University.[1] Clement lives in Mexico City. She is the co-director and founder of the San Miguel Poetry Week. She has a son and a daughter, Richard and Sylvia.
Grant awarded by the Mexican “Systema Nacional de Creadores”, FONCA, 2000 -2006.
Foreign rights sales for Widow Basquiat: 1. Canongate Books, Grove Atlantic, USA, 2001. 2. Plaza & Janes, Mexico, 2000. 3. Debate, Spain, 2001. 4. Denöel, Gallimard, France, 2001. 5. Jaeum & Moeum Publishing, Seoul, Korea, 2001. 6. Shearsman Books, UK/USA, 2010
4. A True Story Based On Lies, Canongate Books, Ltd., UK, 2001.
Foreign rights sales for A True Story Based on Lies: 1. Canongate Books, Grove Atlantic, USA, 2001. 2. Plaza & Janes, Mexico, 2001. 3. Anagrama, Spain, 2001. 5. Temas y Debates, Portugal, 2001. 7. Hed Arzi (Sifriat Ma'ariv) Publishing House, Israel. 2001 8. Arena, Holland, 2001. 9. Instar Libri, Italy, 2002 10. Editions Autrement, France, 2010 11. Mala Kurka, Poland, 2012
5. The Next Stranger & Newton’s Sailor, Ecrivants des Forges, Quebec, Canada and Paris, France, 2001.
6. Lady of the Broom, Aldus, Mexico, 2002.
7. Widow Basquiat (Fragment) La Centena, Conaculta, Mexico, 2003
8. A Salamander-Child, The Canongate Prize, (Illustrated by Gustavo Monroy) Aldus, Mexico, 2007.
9. The Poison That Fascinates, Canongate Books, World Rights, UK. 2008
Foreign rights sales for: The Poison That Fascinates: 1. Azoth Books, Taipei, Taiwan, 2009 2. Editorial Planteta, Madrid, Spain, 2009 3. Shanghai 99 Culture Consulting, China, 2009 4. Newton Compton Editori, Italy, 2009 5. Mala Kurka, Poland, 2011
10. The New and Selected Poems, Shearsman Books. UK. 2009
11. Fanny Calderon de La Barca, Selected Letters on Mexico’s Independence, Anglo Mexican Foundation, 2010