Francesca Lia Block

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Block was born in Los Angeles to a poet and a painter, their creativity an obvious influence on her writing. Another influence was her childhood love of Greek mythology and fairy tales. She has lived in the city all her life, and still resides there with her daughter, Jasmine Angelina (about whom she wrote her book Guarding the Moon), her son Samuel Alexander, and her two dogs: a springer spaniel named Vincent Van Go Go Boots and a beagle mix named Thumper. She left only to attend the University of California, Berkeley. She has often professed her love of Los Angeles, calling it a "Jasmine-scented, jacaranda-purple, neon sparked city," which she has nicknamed in her books "Shangri-LA."