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Articles by Lucy Ellmann
MT by Lucy Ellmann
A man, a plan, a canal: Panama! Whether wrangling gators, playing golf, or organizing themselves into a hedgehog of pikes, men just love being together, being men together. Like male bottlenose dolphins, they seek each other out. Men together, whitewater rafting. Men together, playing beach volleyball. Men together, tear-gassing protesters. Men together drilling for oil. Men together shooting people in Bible-study groups. Men together itching to finger any control panel going.
...according to the novel, Ducks, Newburyport (Ep. 83)
Lucy Ellmann's groundbreaking and award-winning novel, "Ducks, Newburyport", consists of a single sentence broken up only by the small bits of a parallel story of a mountain lioness protecting her cubs. It's a powerful, engrossing and genuinely readable piece of literature that challenges how fiction is read as well as our base assumptions of history, women, motherhood and the incredible flux of the 21st century. Ben discusses the book with Barbara Bell, Artistic Director of Kingston WritersFest.
[12 of the best long books and novels to read]
From multi-generational epics to expansive masterpieces, we’ve compiled a selection of Booker-nominated novels that stretch to 500 pages or more. They may look intimidating but these immersive literary tomes are well worth your time Do you like the challenge of reading a great big doorstopper?
Annie Ernaux won a Nobel Prize - but her fans are blind to her faults
French author Annie Ernaux, winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize in Literature - Leonardo Cendamo/Getty Images Some people can make you feel crummy about anything. But last year’s Nobel Prize-winner Annie Ernaux can do it in a fraction of the time it takes, say, Ian McEwan or Cormac McCarthy, or even Maupassant. Her remarkably short and flummoxing books really take the wind out of your sails.
Naked performances and Woolf in the bath - meet the ‘art monsters’
The feminist body artist Hannah Wilke said that women in America were like chewing gum: “Chew her up, get what you want out of her, throw her out and pop in a new piece.” After so many centuries of suppression, we don’t know what women are. But since the 1970s, female artists have been exploring this question by putting their bodies and their gender centre-stage, ironically wresting the female nude at last out of male hands.
Only Humans Make Sentences
Later this summer Mrs. Biblioracle and I are going on a trip to Norway. Fjords, y’all! Anyway, in preparation, I’ve been reading Septology by Norwegian writer and dramatist Jon Fosse, a six volume novel written in a single continuous sentence.
Want to spend the night alone in a museum? Read this first
Still waters: the Punta della Dogana art museum, in Venice - David Cherepuschak / Alamy Stock Photo Does anyone really want to get stuck in a museum overnight, to toss and turn under the rib cage of a megalosaurus, or shiver in the Great Bed of Ware? Or maybe you’d like to fondle privately the knees of Greek statuary, carve your initials into a Nigerian funerary screen, and pinch some postcards or the Mona Lisa’s cheek.
Why we cannot rely on bookmakers’ odds
This article is an online version of our Inside Politics newsletter. Sign up here to get the newsletter sent straight to your inbox every weekday. Good morning. The topic of today’s newsletter is political betting. I used to do a lot of political betting before joining the Financial Times, and you can find an awful lot of wisdom by talking to other political punters.
Discontentment unlimited Original
Express News Service This first collection of electrifying essays from Scotland-based Booker Prize-shortlisted and Goldsmiths Prize-winning author of the book Ducks, Newburyport is mostly a bold tirade of complaints.
Can Art Save Us from Science?
I’m no sports fan—I think people should only run if it’s to save a life. Somebody else’s life. (These joggers are always coming at you, panting—in the middle of an airborne pandemic!) But I do feel for the visually impaired athlete at the Tokyo Paralympics who collided with a driverless bus. Luckily, he was not seriously injured, but the incident illustrates our doomed enchantment with science and technology. First, some dopey scientist comes up with some dopey idea for a new gizmo.
Travelfish #428: The case for staying put
Hi all, So this week I’ve got a lead on a piece that asks why are people still travelling? There’s also a piece on Burma’s Salween River, yet more bad news out of Cambodia, and an appalling story about mistreated elephants in Indonesia. Then there’s a great story on a positive outcome in Laos, an enormous bird in Malaysia, some musing on old buildings in Singapore, more Thai national park problems and comics doing good work in Vietnam.
Kill the Travel Bug: The Case for Staying Put
Not that long ago, air travel was a badge of distinction. The jet set prided itself on the habit, and Frank Sinatra sang “Come Fly with Me” to encourage them further. Mile-high sex on a plane was de rigueur. People actually used to dress up to take a plane (before getting naked in the lavatories). Pan Am claimed, “The travail has been taken out of travel.” For some, the excitement still lingers.
Things Are Against Us
Praise for Things Are Against Us "Ellmann's polemic is a medley: a wickedly funny, rousing, depressing, caps-driven work of linguistic gymnastics hellbent on upbraiding the deleterious forces of the prevailing misogyny ... Attentively negotiating a bleak world, the sentences remain joyous constructions ... 'Let it blaze!' commands Woolf in Three Guineas.
How We Made: Ducks, Newburyport | Waterstones.com Blog | Waterstones
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Things Are Against Us
By Lucy Ellmann THINGS ARE AGAINST US is the first collection of essays from Booker Prize-shortlisted author Lucy Ellmann. It is everything you might expect from such a fiery writer which is to say, entirely unexpected. Provocative, smart, angry, wise, and very, very funny, the essays in Things Are Against Us cover everything – from feminism to environmental catastrophe; labour strikes to sex strikes; Little House On The Prairie to Donald Trump.
The Book Breakdown: The 1,000-page novel that's mostly one sentence
Most of “Ducks, Newburyport” is only one sentence. However, fans of brevity will be disappointed – the work is more than 1,000 pages long. Lucy Ellmann’s 2019 novel is an encyclopedic stream-of-conscious narrative inside the head of a middle-aged married mother of four living in Newcomerstown, Ohio. The unnamed narrator is an adjunct history professor from the fictional Peolia College. Since she has been in remission from cancer she has been on leave from her job.
Annihilation is such a comedy-killer
The following interview appears on Issue Zero of LONGITŪDINĒS. Get your copy now! You lived your life between the US and the UK and set your books in both countries. The novelist Lisa Zeidner claims England is more open to your ‘brand of literary experimentation than the United States’. How do the US and UK influence your identity as a writer? Having a foot in both countries has been both a source of material, and cause for confusion. Not just for me but my publishers.
Our Sunday Reads (Number Two)
1. Love and Salt: A Spiritual Friendship Shared in Letters by Jessica Mesman and Amy Andrews I’m on a quest to read everything by Jessica Mesman. I think she’s one of the best faith writers/writers who happens to write about faith out there right now. Her work is fantastic. 2. I finished reading all of Jesmyn Ward’s books. I read Where the Line Bleeds and Navigate Your Stars this past week. I want to re-read Sing, Unburied, Sing but I can’t find my copy. I’ll look again later today.
Creative Writing Prompt: Newburyport
Create a scene or short story that is told entirely in one sentence. It could be a one-sentence story, or a sentence that goes on for pages. For inspiration, see Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann. Learn the differences between semantics vs. syntax vs. pragmatics with Grammar Rules from the Writer's Digest editors, including a few examples of correct usages. Stuck trying to find a way to begin your next story?
Water Wings
From Ducks, Newburyport. Published by Biblioasis in 2019.
Opinion | Patriarchy Is Just a Spell
I’m outing Alfred Hitchcock’s 1945 thriller ‘Spellbound’ as a #MeToo film. By Lucy Ellmann Ms. Ellmann is a novelist. Dec.
Unrequited Love: Diary of an accidental activist
Memoir Reviewed by Sebastian Sharp • Unrequited Love: Diary of an accidental activist by Dennis Altman Monash University Publishing, $29.95 pb, 245 pp, 9781925835120 Memoir Reviewed by Sebastian Sharp • The fortieth anniversary of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras might have been an occasion for unbridled elation. Held in March of 2018, the celebration came soon after the bitterly fought battle to legalise same-sex marriage in Australia.
The Shelf Life of Zora Cross
Biography Reviewed by Brenda Niall • The Shelf Life of Zora Cross by Cathy Perkins Monash University Publishing, $29.95 pb, 285 pp, 9781925835533 Biography Reviewed by Brenda Niall • Just over one hundred years ago, Sydney readers were speaking in hushed tones about a shocking new book by a young woman, Zora Cross.
'Ducks, Newburyport' is a brilliant, addictive novel
By Donna Liquori | Associated Press When you mention to people that you’re reading a nearly 1,000-page book that’s mostly one sentence, the reaction is odd. Some people roll their eyes, others get a little angry over the audacity. But when you say the book is brilliant, incredulity seems to take over. “Ducks, Newburyport” by Lucy Ellmann IS brilliant — and addictive. The main character is an unnamed woman who is a mom, cancer survivor, wife and baker, who also raises chickens.
‘Ducks, Newburyport’ is a brilliant, addictive novel
By Donna Liquori | Associated Press When you mention to people that you’re reading a nearly 1,000-page book that’s mostly one sentence, the reaction is odd. Some people roll their eyes, others get a little angry over the audacity. But when you say the book is brilliant, incredulity seems to take over. “Ducks, Newburyport” by Lucy Ellmann IS brilliant — and addictive. The main character is an unnamed woman who is a mom, cancer survivor, wife and baker, who also raises chickens.
Ducks, Newburyport
ISBN: 9781922268938 In Stock Synopsis Latticing one cherry pie after another, an Ohio housewife tries to bridge the gaps between reality and the torrent of meaningless info that is the United States of America. She worries about her children, her dead parents, African elephants, the bedroom rituals of 'happy couples', Weapons of Mass Destruction and how to hatch an abandoned wood pigeon egg. Is there some trick to surviving survivalists? School shootings? Medical debts? Franks 'n' beans?
Ducks, Newburyport
Lucy Ellmann’s ambitious seventh novel stages the workings of a mind as it digests – or fails to digest – life-altering experiences. Ducks, Newburyport is, for the most part, the ruminating inner monologue of a bewildered and frightened woman. It spans a thousand mostly artful pages and is an undeniably impressive accomplishment.
18 books you heard about on CBC Radio this week | CBC Books
Here's a round-up of the best book and author interviews from CBC Radio from Oct. 11 to Oct. 18, 2019. Here's a round-up of the best book and author interviews from CBC Radio from Oct. 11 to Oct. 18, 2019. Me by Elton John Me is a memoir by Elton John. (Valentin Flauraud/Keystone/Associated Press, Henry Holt & Co.) Elton John's autobiography describes the evolution of a shy boy named Reginald Dwight to the legendary musician he is today.
The Booker Prize 2019 has just made history
After a much-anticipated wait with a high-profile shortlist, the winner of the Booker Prize for 2019 has been revealed, and it's history-making in more ways than one. On Monday evening (14th October), the Booker Prize was jointly awarded to Margaret Atwood and Bernadine Evaristo.
The Booker Prize winner will be announced on October 14. A guide to the shortlist
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World By Elif Shafak Penguin Random House India ‘And so it was that the baby girl, born to a family of one husband and two wives on 6 January 1947, in the city of Van — ‘the Pearl of the East’ — was named Leyla Afife Kamile. Such self-assured names, grandiose and unambiguous. Big mistakes, as it would turn out.’ In this novel about the power of friendship, Leyla will eventually remake herself as Leila.
Life in a single sentence
DUCKS, NEWBURYPORT By Lucy Ellmann Please subscribe or log in to continue reading the full article. Learn more about ST PREMIUM. Exclusive stories and features on multiple devices In-depth analyses and opinion pieces ePaper and award-winning multimedia content We have been experiencing some problems with subscriber log-ins and apologise for the inconvenience caused. Until we resolve the issues, subscribers need not log in to access ST Digital articles. But a log-in is still required for our PDFs.
Booker 2019: Ducks, Newburyport captures life in a 1,000-page sentence
We have been experiencing some problems with subscriber log-ins and apologise for the inconvenience caused. Until we resolve the issues, subscribers need not log in to access ST Digital articles. But a log-in is still required for our PDFs.
Chris Flynn reviews 'Hollow Earth' by John Kinsella
Fiction Reviewed by Chris Flynn • Hollow Earth by John Kinsella Transit Lounge, $29.99 pb, 268 pp, 9781925760279 Fiction Reviewed by Chris Flynn • Astronomer Edmond Halley (also known as Edmund, debate still rages over which spelling he preferred) may be best known for the comet that passes through our solar system once every seventy-five to seventy-six years (next sighting due in 2061, set a reminder in your iCal), but in 1692 he proposed an intriguing theory: that the Earth was hollow.
Best Fiction of 2019: Booker Prize
As chair of the 2019 Booker Prize judging panel, you helped whittle down this huge pile of fiction books from over 100 down to the six novels that we have here. What was that process like, and what was the timeline of reading and discussing the books? We started in January and read 30 books a month for the first six months. Every month, we would meet and discuss which of those 30 we wanted to forward to a consideration list for the longlist. Interestingly enough, I don’t think we ever had to vote.
Best Fiction of 2019: Booker Prize
As chair of the 2019 Booker Prize judging panel, you helped whittle down this huge pile of fiction books from over 100 down to the six novels that we have here. What was that process like, and what was the timeline of reading and discussing the books? We started in January and read 30 books a month for the first six months. Every month, we would meet and discuss which of those 30 we wanted to forward to a consideration list for the longlist. Interestingly enough, I don’t think we ever had to vote.
Does This Nearly 1,000-Page-Long Sentence Encapsulate the Anxiety of American Life?
Can all of modern life’s alienation be summed up in a sentence? Ducks, Newburyport attempts to find out. fb tw mail Print msg wa sms (Illustration by Sophia Kwan) “There is a something that broods over our Mid-American landscapes that can save us all if we will but give our selves,” the American novelist Sherwood Anderson wrote in 1920. Anderson’s masterpiece, Winesburg, Ohio, had been published the previous year.
Does This Nearly 1,000-Page-Long Sentence Encapsulate the Anxiety of American Life?
Can all of modern life’s alienation be summed up in a sentence? Ducks, Newburyport attempts to find out. fb tw mail Print msg wa sms Bookmark September 19, 2019 (Illustration by Sophia Kwan) “There is a something that broods over our Mid-American landscapes that can save us all if we will but give our selves,” the American novelist Sherwood Anderson wrote in 1920. Anderson’s masterpiece, Winesburg, Ohio, had been published the previous year.
Book World: Reading 'Ducks, Newburyport' is mentally taxing - and physically exhausting
In our media-saturated age, it may take as much dedication to read a lengthy and challenging book as it does to compose one. Writers should experiment with the novel’s limits and conventions, of course, but then readers have to do their job. They might start with “Ducks, Newburyport,” by Lucy Ellmann, the 1,000-page single sentence that was just shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Book recommendations for September
Blurbs 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak It is said that the brain can continue to work for 10 minutes and 38 seconds after the death of a body. This Booker shortlisted novel tells the tragic story of Leila; as her consciousness began to ebb, slowly and steadily, like a tide receding from the shore, we are taken from her birth, childhood, and the tragic circumstances of her life that led to her eventual murder.
Contemporary American Angst, in a Single, Thousand-Word Sentence
Fiction Image Lucy Ellmann’s “Ducks, Newburyport” is this year’s only American contender for the Man Booker Prize in Britain. Sept. 10, 2019, 5:00 a.m. ET DUCKS, NEWBURYPORT By Lucy Ellmann For most of its 1,000 pages, Lucy Ellmann’s brilliantly ambitious seventh novel follows the unspooling consciousness of an Ohio housewife circa 2017, and does so almost entirely in one long, lyrical, constantly surprising sentence.
Ducks, Newburyport (Paperback)
$22.95 Coming Soon - Available for Pre-Order Now September 2019 Indie Next List “In 2019’s most ambitious novel, Lucy Ellmann puts us in the mind of one of literature’s most overlooked characters: an average woman and mother doing her best in a world that respects neither women nor mothers. Rambunctiously political, tenderly personal, and profoundly humanist, Ellmann’s simple respect for her protagonist’s thoughts, feelings, faults, and successes is revolutionary.
A Thousand-Page Novel - Made Up of Mostly One Sentence - Captures How We Think Now
Books of The Times A woman stands in a room, thinking. She thinks about Jared Kushner’s $400 million business deal in China and a sky-blue earring she lost years ago and still misses. She thinks about 170 Jewish gravestones knocked down in Philadelphia, the fact that the average teenager checks his phone 2,000 times a day, and that 98 percent of insect species in Puerto Rico have disappeared. She wonders why she gives such lousy parties, and who left the wet towels on the bathroom floor.
2019 Booker Prize Shortlist Announced
The 2019 Booker Prize Shortlist has been announced! This year’s shortlist includes six novels that span the globe, with the notable return of two previous winners of the award—Salman Rushdie, who won in 1981 with Midnight’s Children, and Margaret Atwood, whose The Blind Assassin won in 2000. First awarded in 1969, the Booker Prize is open to writers of any nationality writing in English and published in the UK or Ireland. This year’s shortlist was selected from 151 submitted books.
Margaret Atwood's sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, The Testaments, shortlisted for 2019 Booker Prize
The award, worth £50,000 (approx. $86,990 Cdn), annually recognizes the best original novel written in the English language published in the U.K. Margaret Atwood is the author of The Testaments. (McClelland & Stewart) Margaret Atwood's forthcoming novel, The Testaments, is among the six titles shortlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize. The award, worth £50,000 (approx.
David Collard - Life Sentence
That rough beast the Great American Novel has been slouching around since the 19th century in the form of hefty books by male authors, from Melville and Hemingway to Franzen and DeLillo. It’s always been a guy thing and, like many other guy things, has seemingly had its day. Ducks, Newburyport, the seventh novel by the Anglo-American author Lucy Ellmann, was recently acclaimed by the Irish Times as ‘one of the outstanding books of the century so far’ and I find it hard to disagree.
TMR 9.06: Monsterhuman by Kjersti Skomsvold (pgs 226-274)
Caitlin Baker from Island Books joins Chad and Brian this week to talk about “The Herring Factory” from Kjersti Skomsvold’s Monsterhuman.
TMR 9.03: Monsterhuman by Kjersti Skomsvold (pgs 92-143)
In this episode, Chad and Brian applaud Kjersti for not getting back together with her ex-boyfriend, talk about circular structures, about the evolution of her written voice, about Antony and the Johnsons, the myth-making behind Babe Ruth, and much more. This week’s music is “Patterns Prevail” by Young Guv. Next episode will cover pages 144-180 and will be livestreamed on YouTube next Wednesday. You can find the complete reading schedule here.
The September 2019 Indie Next List Preview
Here are the 20 Indie Next Great Reads and 12 Now in Paperback titles featured on the September 2019 Indie Next List flier, which is on its way to stores in the IndieBound movement. Beginning September 1, these titles will be featured on downloadable fliers and shelf-talkers on BookWeb.org and IndieBound.org.
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