Ellen Gilchrist (1935– )
by Stephen Enzweiler
Born in Vicksburg, Miss., on Feb. 20, 1935, Ellen Gilchrist has been praised by critics for the diversity of her writing and the command of her narrative voice. She is a writer of poems, short stories, novels, and non-fiction. She earned a B.A. from Millsaps College in 1967 and did postgraduate work at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. She worked as an author and journalist, and as a commentator on National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” from 1984-1985. Her first book, The Land Surveyor’s Daughter (1979), was followed by In the Land of Dreamy Dreams (1985), which was widely acclaimed.
But it is her short story fiction that has brought her the most critical and popular acclaim and made her a household name as one of Mississippi’s most auspicious writers. A London Times review of her work commented that her stories “swing between the familiar and the shocking, the everyday and the traumatic.” Her world of fiction is a world gone awry; there is always the surprise ending or a twist of fate that shocks the reader. She prefers stories with contrast, where ordinary occurrences happen in extraordinary places, or familiar characters from her other stories find themselves in a strange and unknown place. There is always a turn, a twist, and irony. She is recipient of the American Book Award for Fiction and continues to write and publish.
by Stephen Enzweiler
Stephen Enzweiler is Contributing Editor to Y’all Magazine as well as a short story fiction author. Write to him at steve@yall.com. Learn more about his writings at www.StephenEnzweiler.com
Other Articles by Stephen Enzweiler:
The Legacy of Mississippi Writers
William Faulkner: The Agony and the Sweat
A Streetcar Named Tennessee
Bard of the American Illiad
The Existential Walker Percy
Eudora Welty
Richard Wright
Willie Morris
Ellen Gilchrist
Oxford Wedding
Stepping Off the Trace: Florence and the Shoals
Corinth: Still A Crossroads Destination
Mississippi Rising
