Jill Ciment (born March 19, 1953) is an American writer.

Biography

Ciment was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She studied art at the California Institute of Arts (CalArts), under John Baldessari. She earned her BFA from CalArts in 1975. She received her MFA in creative writing from the University of California, Irvine in 1981. Ciment is a professor of English at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Her novel, Heroic Measures, was one of titles chosen by Oprah Winfrey's Book Club for 2009 summer reading. The book was also one of the top five finalists for the Los Angeles Times Book Award for 2010. 5 Flights Up, a film adaptation of Heroic Measures starring Morgan Freeman and Diane Keaton, was released in the U.S. on May 8, 2015. She began an affair with her art teacher, Arnold Mesches, when she was 17 and in his class. He was 47, and married with two children. They moved in together the following year, married, and were together until his death in 2016. Her memoir, Half a Life, reflected on their relationship together and was published in 1996. Following Arnold's death and in context of the Me Too movement, she re-examined their almost 50 year relationship with a new memoir, Consent.

Grants and literary awards

Works

Novels

Short stories

Collections:

Non-fiction

Adaptations