Julia Bloch grew up in Northern California and Sydney, Australia. She earned a BA in political philosophy from Carleton College, an MFA in creative writing from Mills College, and a PhD in English from the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of LETTERS TO KELLY CLARKSON (Sidebrow Books, 2012), a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, VALLEY FEVER (Sidebrow Books, 2015), and THE SACRAMENTO OF DESIRE (Sidebrow Books, 2020). She is the recipient of the Joseph Henry Jackson Literary Award from the San Francisco Foundation and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts.