This week on The Write Question, host Lauren Korn speaks with with Alicia Elliott, an established writer of non-fiction, about her debut novel, And Then She Fell (Dutton Books, 2023), the story of Alice, a young Mohawk teenager who begins to hear malevolent voices and see things in her surroundings—things others do not see and hear. She learns to suppress or numb these voices and images, but when, in her adulthood, she marries and gives birth to a daughter, those voices and images return. After losing her own mother, Alice tries her hardest to keep herself together and perform the new roles of “wife” and “mother” in a fog of grief and imposter syndrome. And Then She Fell is an exploration of dissonance: of motherhood, racism and inherited trauma, storytelling, and mental health.
About Alicia:
Alicia Elliott is a Mohawk writer and editor living in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. She has written for The Globe and Mail, CBC, Hazlitt, and many others. She’s had numerous essays nominated for National Magazine Awards, winning Gold in 2017 and an honorable mention in 2020. Her short fiction was selected for Best American Short Stories 2018, Best Canadian Stories 2018, and Journey Prize Stories 30. Alicia was chosen by Tanya Talaga as the 2018 recipient of the RBC Taylor Emerging Writer Award. Her first book, a memoir, A Mind Spread Out On The Ground, was a national bestseller in Canada. It was also nominated for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction and won the Forest of Reading Evergreen Award.
Alicia Elliott recommends:
The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice (Ballantine Books)
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder (Anchor Books)
Lauren Korn recommends:
And Then She Fell (Dutton Books) and A Mind Spread Out on the Ground (Melville House Publishing; Penguin Random House Canada)
This interview between Alicia Elliott and Rebecca Salazar for The Adroit Journal
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder (Anchor Books)
Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth (Vintage Books)
The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante (Europa Editions)
Bad Cree by Jessica Johns (Doubleday Books)
The novels of Stephen Graham Jones, including The Only Good Indians and My Heart is a Chainsaw (Gallery/Saga Press)
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The Write Question team for this episode was Lauren Korn, host, co-producer, and editor; and Jake Birch, co-producer, editor, and sound engineer. This episode is supported by Montana Book Co., located in downtown Helena, Montana, since 1978, offering new books for all ages, vinyl records, and community activism. For delivery in Helena and shipping online, visit mtbookco.com.
The Write Question logo and brand (2022) was designed by Molly Russell. You can see more of her work at iamthemollruss.com and on Instagram @iamthemollruss. Our music was written and recorded by John Floridis.
Funding for The Write Question comes from Humanities Montana; members of Montana Public Radio; and from the Greater Montana Foundation—encouraging communication on issues, trends, and values of importance to Montanans.
The Write Question is a production of Montana Public Radio.
