Assistant Professor, Creative Writing and English
School of Theatre, English, and Creative Writing
Alicia Elliott
The 2024 Gryphons Read featured book is And Then She Fell, by Alicia Elliott. Alicia is a Mohawk writer and editor living in Brantford, Ontario, and is already well known for her far-reaching voice and contributions as a contemporary Indigenous thinker. Her first book of essays, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, was a national bestseller in Canada and was nominated for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction, and won the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award.
Alicia Elliott's debut novel, And Then She Fell is described as "a mind-bending, gripping novel about Native life, motherhood and mental health that follows a young Mohawk woman who discovers that the picture-perfect life she always hoped for may have horrifying consequences." And Then She Fell was named as the Globe and Mail and CBC Best Book of the Year for 2023, and longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction. Alicia is also the winner of the 48th annual Amazon Canada First Novel Award for 2024.
Alicia Elliott is a Mohawk writer living in Brantford, Ontario.
She has written for The Globe and Mail, CBC, Hazlitt and many others.
She’s had essays nominated for National Magazine Awards for three straight years, winning Gold in 2017, and her short fiction was selected for Best American Short Stories 2018, Best Canadian Stories 2018, and Journey Prize Stories 30.
She was chosen by Tanya Talaga as the 2018 recipient of the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award.
Her first book, A Mind Spread Out On The Ground, (Doubleday Canada) is a national bestseller, was a Globe and Mail, Chatelaine and Quill and Quire best-book selection, and was shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
Her most recent book, And Then She Fell, (Doubleday Canada; Atlantic Books and Dutton US) was also a national bestseller, as well as a Globe and Mail “Best Book of 2023″; a Most Anticipated Book Pick by Good Morning America, Bustle, CrimeReads, Electric Literature, Debutiful, Ms. Magazine, The Nerd Daily, and Paste, and was the 2024 Gryphons Read selection for 2024.