Alicia Elliott’s journey to win Amazon Canada’s First Novel Award began during her high school years in Brantford.
Advertisement 2
Article content
Elliott was born in Buffalo, New York but at age 13 moved to the Six Nations of the Grand River where his father was from. She attended high school at Pauline Johnson Collegiate, which is where her interest in writing began.
Originally Elliott wanted to become a visual artist but eventually realized that path was not for her. During her time at Pauline Johnson, she entered a writing contest and went on to win. This ignited a new calling in writing.
“Winning that contest, I guess was a big boost to my confidence that I needed,” said the Brantford resident.
She went on to attend York University in Toronto to study English with a focus on creative writing in the final two years of her post-secondary education.
Elliott won the award and $60,000 in prize money for her book And Then She Fell. The book is described as a “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.”
Advertisement 3
Article content
Elliott went through many life experiences that helped shape the novel.
Her mother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and, seeing what her mother went through, Elliott said she hoped it would not become a part of her life.
“That was one of my biggest fears when growing up, that there was always this chance I was going to have to go through the same thing as my mother.”
Elliott’s fears came true when she too was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
This led to Elliott going through a manic episode during the novel’s writing process, which led her to take the novel in a different direction than what she first imagined.
The book is written in a manner that those going through similar episodes would still want to read it, she said.
Advertisement 4
Article content
Elliott went on to laugh about his writing process and the struggle to stay motivated and on task.
“I definitely would not recommend my process to anyone else.”
This is not the first time Elliott has been recognized for excellence in writing.
She wrote an essay for an issue of the Malahat Review titled “A Mind Spread Out On The Ground,” and was awarded the gold prize at the National Magazine Awards.
Even though she has received awards before, Elliott said it was still surreal to receive the most recent recognition.
“I struggled to see if it was real at first, I needed to take a step back and take it all in.”
Elliott is in the early stages of writing her next book, saying she is taking a different approach this time around.
“With And Then She Fell it started out as a long short story so it was easier because I had something to start with, this next one I am writing from scratch so it will take a lot longer.”
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada
Article content