Interview: Joan Frank’s latest work Juniper Street offers a visceral portrait of female friendship and it’s after effects. Told in a series of short snapshot-like vignettes,
Ellen Birkett Morris
Ellen Birkett Morris is the author of Beware the Tall Grass, winner of the Donald L. Jordan Award for Literary Excellence, judged by Lan Samantha Chang, published by CSU Press. She is also the author of Lost Girls: Short Stories, winner of the Pencraft Award and finalist for the Clara Johnson, IAN and Best Book awards. Her fiction has appeared in Shenandoah, Antioch Review, Notre Dame Review, and South Carolina Review, among other journals. She is a winner of the Bevel Summers Prize for short fiction. Morris is a recipient of an Al Smith Fellowship for her fiction from the Kentucky Arts Council.
Morris is also the author of Abide and Surrender, poetry chapbooks. Her poetry has appeared in The Clackamas Literary Review, Juked, Gastronomica, and Inscape, among other journals, and in eight anthologies. Morris won top prize in the 2008 Binnacle Ultra-Short Edition and was a finalist for the 2019 and 2020 Rita Dove Poetry Prize. Her poem “Abide” was featured on NPR’s A Way with Words. Her essays have appeared in Newsweek, AARP’s The Ethel, Oh Reader magazine, and on National Public Radio.
Morris holds an MFA in creative writing from Queens University-Charlotte.
https://www.ellenbirkettmorris.com/
Review: Lucy by the Sea: Intimate Portrait of Grief
Review: Elizabeth Strout has a unique gift for sharing the intimate on the page;
Interview: Lockdown Inspires Thriller, Her Perfect Twin
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Interview: Stay Gone Days Tells a Story of Family and Place
Interview: Stay Gone Days, Steve Yarbrough, Ig Publishing – In his latest book, Steve Yarbrough pulls us deep into the psyches of teenage sisters Ella and Caroline Cole as they escape the claustrophobic world of their hometown in Mississippi.
Interview: Storytelling Through Octopus Eyes
Interview: Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco – I was drawn to Remarkably Bright Creatures by the engaging cover. When I learned that one of the characters was an octopus, I had to read on.
Interview: The Making of Her by Bernadette Jiwa
Interview: The Making of Her, Bernadette Jiwa, Dutton – Given her background, living with and listening to relatives across the generations tell stories, it is no surprise that Bernadette Jiwa was drawn to write an intergenerational story in THE MAKING OF HER.
Interview: Admit This to No One
Admit This to No One, Leslie Pietrzyk, Unnamed Press – Leslie Pietrzyk’s ADMIT THIS TO NO ONE takes on the intersection of the personal and the political through the lens of a group of women connected to a powerful Speaker of the House.
Interview: In the Lonely Backwater, an Unusual Mystery
In the Lonely Backwater, Valerie Nieman, Fitzroy Books – Valerie Nieman isn’t afraid to explore the world through writing whatever the genre. She is the author of five novels, short fiction collection, and three poetry collections.
Interview: Novelist Explores the Cost of Marital Lying
Interview: Would I Lie to You?, Aliya Alfi-Afzal, Grand Central Publishing – Novelist Explores the Cost of Marital Lying
Interview: Brad Kessler’s North Explores Sanctuary and Borders
North, Brad Kessler, Harry N. Abrams – In his fourth book, North, Brad Kessler tells a story of a boundary expanding encounter between a Somali refugee, a Vermont monk, and an Afghan War veteran that poses important questions about boundaries and belonging.
