Alethea Black was born in Boston and graduated from Harvard in 1991. Her father was an economist and a mathematician, and for a long time, she believed her name, the Greek word for truth, was his way of tipping his cap to the idea of absolutes. Then one day her mother overheard her and said: “No, we got your name from a TV show.” (Judd, for the Defense.)
Her work has won the Arts & Letters prize, been cited as distinguished in The Best American Short Stories, and appeared in numerous literary magazines, including The Antioch Review, The Kenyon Review, Litro Magazine, Narrative, and The Sun. Her first book, a short story collection, I Knew You’d Be Lovely (Broadway, 2011), was chosen as a Barnes & Noble ‘Discover Great New Writers’ pick. Her memoir, You’ve Been So Lucky Already (Little A, 2018), was reviewed by The New York Times and is now available.
A three-time MOTH StorySLAM champion, Black lives with her miniature dachshund in LA County, California.