For information on upcoming classes, please visit the Classes page of this website.

I am proud and excited to get a recommendation from #1 NYT-bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand, who included The Usual Uncertainties on her Summer 2020 book list. […]

Benjamin Selesnick has just reviewed The Usual Uncertainties for the Jewish Book Council. Check out the review here.

All of my fiction-writing classes are now being taught online. See the Classes page of this website for specifics. Financial aid is available. This is a […]

My interview with Breanna Chia appears on the Los Angeles-based online literary magazine Angels Flight • literary west.

The PRI show, Selected Shorts, where actors read short stories to an audience, will be coming to the Getty Museum in Los Angeles on March 15, […]

Check the Classes page of this website to find upcoming workshops and other classes that are still open.

I will appear on KCRW’s Bookworm with host Michael Silverblatt on Thursday, January 16 at 1:30 p.m. The show will be available as a podcast after […]

I have a short nonfiction piece up about my neighborhood on the Poets & Writers website.

Iowa Public Radio has named The Usual Uncertainties one of the best fiction books to give as a gift in 2019.

The Jewish Book Council blog posted a story from The Usual Uncertainties, along with a short piece I wrote about the story. Check it out here.

I will be recording a podcast with Lisa Birnbach at the Miami Book Fair on Saturday, November 23 at 5 p.m. The event is open to […]

Here is an interview with Holiday Reinhorn that appears in the blog section of the Los Angeles Review of Books: http://blog.lareviewofbooks.org/interviews/psalms-arent-mentioned-theyre-talking-jonathan-blum/

Sunday, November 3 Skylight Books Los Angeles, CA 5 p.m. RSVP here Tuesday, November 12 Milkweed Books (with Peter Bognanni) Minneapolis, MN 7 p.m. RSVP here […]

https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/jonathan-blum-discusses-his-new-short-story-collection-usual-uncertainties My tour to launch the story collection The Usual Uncertainties will begin on Sunday, November 3 at 5 p.m. at Skylight Books in Los Feliz. Such a […]

This summer I will be teaching three classes.   Two-Month Workshop Sunday, July 14 – Sunday, September 8 5 – 8 p.m. Larchmont   One-Day Class […]

According to a recent article called  “15 Top Writing Classes in Los Angeles”  by Katrina Kwan of Writing Tips Oasis, my fiction-writing workshops are #5 in […]

My story collection The Usual Uncertainties will be published by Rescue Press on November 1, 2019.

Click here to see reviews of my fiction writing classes on Yelp.  

In this class, which is called “Starting New Stories,” we are going to explore different approaches for how to start a new story. The goal of […]

Michelle Latiolais, author of, among other books, the story collection Widow, visited my Spring 2019 Workshop in Pasadena on May 5. She conducted a Q&A session with […]

This June, I will be teaching two intensive writing classes–a generative weekend fiction-writing class called “Who Is I?” and a week-long short story workshop–at The Iowa […]

On Sunday, March 17, 2019, in Larchmont, I’ll be teaching a one-day fiction writing class called “Starting New Stories.” If you’ve been stuck recently trying to […]

My short story, “Boca,” originally published in the literary magazine New York Stories in 2002, has been translated into Mandarin by Mia Guo and published in […]

Here are the dates of my Winter and Spring 2019 six-week workshop offerings. Winter 2019 January 20 — February 24, Sundays from 5 to 7 p.m. […]

This is a workshop designed for committed fiction writers of any experience level who are seeking support with longer-term projects (story collections, novels, etc.) and the […]

Listen to me reading my short story, “The White Spot,” on the Kenyon Review website.  

Holiday Reinhorn, who has taken several of my fiction writing workshops, most recently in Winter 2019, has published a short story, “Our Lady of Perpetual Sadness,” […]

My short story, “The White Spot,” appears in the Sept/Oct 2018 issue of the Kenyon Review. To order a copy, go to the Kenyon Review website.

On Saturday, December 1, 2018, I will be hosting a one-day fiction writing class in Pasadena. The subject will be how to create fictional characters. You […]

I will be running a six-week fiction writing workshop in Santa Monica from October 5 to November 9. The class meets on Fridays from 10 a.m. […]

I will be running a six-week fiction writing workshop in Pasadena from September 23 to October 28. The workshop will meet on Sundays from 5 to […]

My series of one-page stories, “Panels,” appears on the Los Angeles-based cultural and literary website Angels Flight • literary west. Panels are small oil paintings done […]

From June 16 to June 22, 2018, I will be teaching two intensive fiction writing classes at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival in Iowa City. See […]

Last night, Michelle Huneven joined my Winter 2018 fiction writing class to discuss characterization in her short story, “Too Good To True.” She also took questions […]

Brian Tran got into the MFA program in fiction writing at Washington University in St. Louis. He will receive a fellowship that covers his tuition as […]

Rescue Press, which brought out my first book in 2013, has accepted my story collection, The Usual Uncertainties, for publication in Fall 2019.

William Deverell, who was, most recently, in my Spring 2018 workshop, has published his third short story, “Driftwood,” in The Cost of Paper, Volume 5, an […]

My Spring 2018 fiction writing workshop will be held on six consecutive Sundays from April 22 – May 27  at 5 – 7 p.m. The workshop […]

My Winter 2018 fiction writing class will take place on six consecutive Sundays from January 21 – February 25 in Pasadena. This class has sold out.

Winter 2018 and Spring 2018 classes now enrolling. See Classes page.

What better way to celebrate L.A.’s one-of-a-kind Bookworm and light than with a party at Hollywood’s Lacha Somtum (which, I am told, means “King of Papaya […]

My Spring 2017 fiction writing workshop in L.A. has sold out. Fall 2017 and Winter 2018 classes are now enrolling. See Classes page for more details.

My Fall 2017 fiction writing workshop takes place on six consecutive Sundays from 5 – 7 p.m. from September 17 through October 22. The workshop will […]

From June 17 to June 23, 2017, I will be teaching two intensive fiction writing classes at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival in Iowa City. Keep […]

My short story, “Weekly Status Report,” which takes place in the world of competitive Scrabble, can be found in the fall 2016 issue of Sonora Review. […]

My Spring 2017 fiction writing workshop runs for six weeks from Sunday, April 2 through Sunday, May 7. The workshop will take place in Mid-Wilshire. Students […]

For three weeks, starting August 30, 2016, I will be a guest writer at the Tianjin Binhai International Writing Program in Tianjin, China’s fourth most populous […]