Ellis Avery (born Elisabeth Atwood; October 25, 1972 – February 15, 2019) was an American writer. She won two

Stonewall Book Award The Stonewall Book Award is a set of three literary awards that annually recognize "exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience" in English-language books published in the U.S. They are sponsored by the Rainbo ...

s (the only author to have done so), one in 2008 for her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

The Teahouse Fire ''The Teahouse Fire'' is a novel by Ellis Avery set in late nineteenth century Japan published by Riverhead in the US in 2006 and to be published by Random House in the UK as a paperback original. Plot summary Set in late nineteenth century J ...

'' and one in 2013 for her second novel '' The Last Nude''. ''The Teahouse Fire'' also won a

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

for Lesbian Debut Fiction and an Ohioana Library Fiction Award in 2007. She self-published her memoir, ''The Family Tooth'', in 2015. Her final book, ''Tree of Cats'', was independently published posthumously.

Early life

Avery was raised in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, and

Princeton, New Jersey The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...

. Born Elisabeth Atwood, she legally changed her name to Ellis Avery when she was 18.

Education and career

As Elisabeth Atwood, Avery attended

Columbus School for Girls Columbus School for Girls (CSG) is a Private school, private, all-girls college-preparatory Country Day School movement, day school located in Bexley, Ohio, United States, an enclave of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. It serves students from 3 years ol ...

in Columbus, Ohio, and

Princeton Day School Princeton Day School is a private coeducational day school located in Princeton, in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. The largest division is the Upper School (grades 9� ...

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, from which she graduated a year early, in 1989. While at Princeton Day School, Avery edited and contributed to the literary magazine, ''Cymbals'', sang ''a cappella'' in the school's competitive

Madrigals A madrigal is a form of secular vocal music most typical of the Renaissance (15th–16th centuries) and early Baroque (1580–1650) periods, although revisited by some later European composers. The polyphonic madrigal is unaccompanied, and the ...

group, participated in the drama club, and earned a Merit Scholarship. After Princeton Day School, Avery attended

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

, graduating in 1993 with an independent major in Performance Studies. While at Bryn Mawr, she was an editor of and frequent contributor to The College News. She earned an MFA in Writing from

Goddard College Goddard College was a Private college, private college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle. The college offered undergraduate and graduate degree programs. With predecessor ins ...

's low-residency program. Avery taught creative writing at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, and previously at the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

."Profound Surrender: An Interview with Ellis Avery"
''The Common'', April 3, 2016. From September 2017 through December 2018, she pursued a nurse practitioner degree at the MGH Institute of Health Professions and was posthumously inducted into Sigma Theta Tau, the Honor Society of Nursing.

Daily haiku

Beginning in 2000, Avery wrote

haiku is a type of short form poetry that originated in Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases composed of 17 Mora (linguistics), morae (called ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' in Japanese) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern; that include a ''kire ...

daily. She published these online, in hard copy in ''Broken Rooms'' (2014), in a self-published collection called ''365 one-line haiku'' in 2015, and in haiku-a-day datebooks for the years 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Personal life

An out

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

, her spouse was

Sharon Marcus Sharon Marcus (born 1966) is an American academic. She is the Orlando Harriman Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. She specializes in nineteenth-century British and French literature and culture, and teaches c ...

. In 2012, Avery was diagnosed with

leiomyosarcoma A leiomyosarcoma (LMS) is a rare malignant (cancerous) smooth muscle tumor. The word is . The stomach, bladder, uterus, blood vessels, and Gastrointestinal tract, intestines are examples of hollow organs made up of smooth muscles where LMS can be ...

, a rare type of cancer that affects smooth muscle tissue. She died on February 15, 2019.

Culture

Themes of Avery's work include "aesthetically disciplined bodies" and "the will to make beauty that exceeds

ain Ain (, ; ) is a French department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Eastern France. Named after the Ain river, it is bordered by the Saône and Rhône rivers. Ain is located on the country's eastern edge, on the Swiss border, where it ...

She was interested in the formation of queer identity before queerness was a "social category"; as such, she was at the forefront of a queer historical fiction movement in which the historical setting is, among other things, an allegory for the queer child awakening to her identity in a household that cannot recognize or name her existence. Avery and her spouse,

, a professor of English and French literature, influenced each other's work through a shared interest in interrogating received social constructs about women's relationships and lesbian identity in historical contexts. In her later work, through her struggles with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

and

reactive arthritis Reactive arthritis, previously known as Reiter's syndrome, is a form of inflammatory arthritis that develops in response to an infection in another part of the body (cross-reactivity). Coming into contact with bacteria and developing an infect ...

, Avery became interested in medical narratives by both those afflicted with illness and medical professionals, and in 2018 led a narrative medicine storytelling and writing workshop at Harvard Medical School.

Works

*''The Smoke Week'' -

Gival Press Gival Press is an American literary publishing house specializing in non-fiction, short stories, literary fiction and poetry. The privately held, independent company was founded in 1998 in Arlington, Virginia. It publishes books and anthologies ...

, (2003) *''

'' (2006) *'' The Last Nude'' (2012) *''Broken Rooms'' (2014) *''The Family Tooth'' (2015) *Editor, "Public Streets" series at

Public Books ''Public Books'' is an American book review website that publishes accessible reviews written by academics and public intellectuals. Overview Founding editors Caitlin Zaloom and Sharon Marcus launched ''Public Books'' in mid-2012 to "give schol ...

. *''Tree of Cats'' (2020)

Awards

* American Library Association Stonewall Fiction Award for ''

'' and ''The Last Nude'' *

Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction The Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to a debut work of fiction on LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or que ...

for ''

'' * Ohioana Library Fiction Award for ''

'' *

Kiriyama Prize The Kiriyama Prize was an international literary award awarded to books about the Pacific Rim and South Asia. Its goal was to encourage greater understanding among the peoples and nations of the region. Established in 1996, the prize was last awar ...

Notable Book for ''

'' * Booklist Top 10 First Novels on Audio for ''

'' * Golden Crown Historical Fiction Award for ''The Last Nude'' * Walter Rumsey Marvin Award for Emerging Writers, Ohioana Library Association, for ''The Smoke Week''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Avery, Ellis 1972 births 2019 deaths 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers American women novelists American women poets Bryn Mawr College alumni Columbia University faculty Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction winners Stonewall Book Award winners Lesbian poets Lesbian memoirists Lesbian novelists American LGBTQ novelists American LGBTQ poets Novelists from New York (state) Place of death missing Place of birth missing LGBTQ people from Ohio LGBTQ people from New Jersey Deaths from leiomyosarcoma English-language haiku poets American women academics American lesbian writers