Judy Blunt

Judy Blunt (born 10 October 1954) is an American writer from Montana. Her most notable work to date is Breaking Clean, a collection of linked essays exploring her rural upbringing.

Judy Blunt
Born	Judy Blunt (1954-10-10) October 10, 1954 (age 70) Phillips County, Montana, USA[1]
Pen name	Judy Matovich
Occupation	University Professor[2] Non-fiction Author
Education	M.F.A. from University of Montana[2]
Alma mater	University of Montana
Genre	Memoir, Essay
Notable awards	Whiting Award (2001)[3] PEN/Jerard Fund Award for work in progress (1997)[4]
Spouse	John Raymond Matovich
Children	Three
Relatives	Shirley Ann Aikins (Mother) Clarence Russell Blunt (Father)

Biography

Blunt was raised on a cattle ranch in a remote area of Phillips County, Montana,^[1] near Regina, south of Malta, Montana. In 1986 she moved with her three small children to Missoula to attend the University of Montana.^[5]

She later turned the tales of her ranch life into her memoir, Breaking Clean (Knopf 2002), which won a Whiting Award, the PEN/Jerard Fund Award,^[5] Mountains and Plains Nonfiction Book Award, and Willa Cather Literary Award, and was one of The New York Times' Notable Books.^[2] She received a Jacob K. Javits Graduate Fellowship and a Montana Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship.^[6] In 2004 she received a National Endowment for the Arts writer's fellowship, and in 2006 she was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in Nonfiction. Her essays and poems have appeared in such publications as The New York Times, Big Sky Journal and Oprah Magazine.^[2] She also wrote the introduction for Joaquina Ballard Howles, No More Giants.

Blunt received her M.F.A. from the University of Montana in 1994.^[2] She currently resides in Missoula, where she is a retired Professor and director of Creative Writing at the University of Montana.^[2]

Bibliography

• Breaking Clean, Knopf: 2002 (hardcover), ISBN 9780753198223