Ellen Akins

Ellen Akins
Born
South Bend, Indiana, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Southern California (BA)
Johns Hopkins University (MFA)
OccupationNovelist

Ellen Akins is an American novelist from South Bend, Indiana.

Early life and education

After graduating from LaSalle Intermediate Academy in 1977, Akins earned a Bachelor of Arts in film production at the University of Southern California. As a young adult, Akins participated in Beyond Our Control, a youth-produced community television program.[1][better source needed]

Career

Akins worked with film producer Sydney Pollack before losing interest in the film business. Akins then earned a Master of Fine Arts in the creative writing program at Johns Hopkins University.[2] In April 1993, she was awarded the Academy Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters for her fiction writing;[3] she has also been given grants by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ingram Merrill Foundation,[4] and won the Whiting Award in 1989.[5]

Akins is the author of five books; the novels Home Movie, published in 1988 by Simon & Schuster,[6] Little Woman, published in 1990 by Harper & Row,[7] Public Life, published in 1993 by HarperCollins,[3] and Hometown Brew, published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1998, and the short story collection "World Like a Knife", published in 1991 by Johns Hopkins University Press. Akins has also taught at Western Michigan University, Northland College,[3] and Fairleigh Dickinson University.[8]

Personal life

Akins lives in Cornucopia, Wisconsin.[9]

Awards

Works

Books

  • Home Movie. Simon & Schuster. 1988. ISBN 978-0-67166-135-9.
  • Little Woman. Harpercollins. 1990. ISBN 978-0-06016-362-4.
  • World Like a Knife. The Johns Hopkins University Press. 1991. ISBN 978-0-80184-288-7.
  • Public Life. Harpercollins. 1993. ISBN 978-0-06016-753-0.
  • Hometown Brew. Knopf. 1998. ISBN 978-0-67944-795-5.

Stories

  • "Something You Won't Understand". The Southern Review. Winter. LSU Press. 1985.[10]
  • "Nobody's Baby". The Southern Review. Autumn. LSU Press. 1991.[11]
  • "A Modest Appetite". Perigree: Publication for the Arts. 2009. Archived from the original on 28 October 2012.
  • "Her Delivery". Serving House Journal (2). Fall 2010.

References

  1. ^ "Ellen Akins". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  2. ^ "Ellen Akins | The Loft Literary Center". loft.org. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  3. ^ a b c Gillespie, Mary (23 May 1993). "Intense, Urgent Novel Skewers Politics". Chicago Sun-Times.
  4. ^ Hughes, Andrew S. (August 27, 1998). "Hometown Brewed: South Bend native and author Ellen Akins has built a critical reputation book by book". South Bend Tribune.
  5. ^ McDowell, Edwin (27 October 1989). "10 Get Awards for Writers". The New York Times.
  6. ^ Prose, Francine (20 November 1988). "California Dreams and Obsessions". The Washington Post.
  7. ^ Winders, Glenda (July 22, 1990). "Complicated characters mar 'Little Woman'". The San Diego Union-Tribune.
  8. ^ "Ellen Akins". Cheqtel Communications. Archived from the original on 2009-08-29.
  9. ^ "Fiction Writer Ellen Akins to read for Writing Program Reading Series Feb. 16". Washington University in St. Louis. 2006-02-06. Retrieved 2020-05-05.
  10. ^ "The Southern Review : Issue: Winter 1985".
  11. ^ "The Southern Review : Issue: Autumn 1991".