Ellen Prentiss Campbell
The recipient of fellowships in 2009, 2010 and 2012 at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, her fiction has placed in competitions including The Iron Horse Fiction Collection Contest and The Hunger Mountain Short Fiction Contest.
Ellen holds an MFA from The Bennington Writing Seminars, an MSW from Simmons College, and a BA from Smith College. As a child, Ellen dictated stories before she could write, and remembers the disappointment of learning to read and still being unable to crack the cursive code of her grandmother’s letters. Both as a writer and a social worker, she seeks the story between the lines.
Ellen lives with her husband in Rockville, Maryland, in an old house with stories of its own – walking distance from the library and the swimming pool, two of her favorite places. She often writes on an old farm on Glade Pike in Bedford County, Pennsylvania and has completed a collection of stories set in the Allegheny Mountains of western Pennsylvania. Her novel-in-progress takes place in a resort hotel in the region.
61 entries by Ellen Prentiss Campbell
Remembering an indomitable author/librarian gone too soon.
From poetry to plates, finding strength in what remains.
How a scrapped review spawned a much wider reading list.
Reveling in a recent stay at the Book House.
While “Barbie” rings out, “Oppenheimer” is just loud.
The Last Karankawas
By Kimberly Garza
A diverse Galveston community grapples with turmoil on the ground and looming in the clouds.
Marveling at Norway’s monumental novelists.
Untangling the mysterious power of revision.
Atalanta: A Novel
By Jennifer Saint
The Argonauts’ quest is retold through the eyes of a female warrior, with mixed results.
…are harder to find than you’d think.
Why our truest places will always be there.
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The wisdom in Anne Truitt’s final journal.
Exploring (and restoring) Georgetown’s Black cemeteries.
Inciting Joy: Essays
By Ross Gay
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An exuberant if overstated ode to…well, you know.
The stories on my shelf take me back to Sweden.
The Last Karankawas: A Novel
By Kimberly Garza
A diverse Galveston community grapples with turmoil on the ground and looming in the clouds.
Conjuring a few magical hours of past meeting present.
Mother of Strangers: A Novel
By Suad Amiry
An earnest, deeply flawed story of Palestinian suffering.
Busting the myth of the “solitary” writer.
Will America’s bullet-riddled narrative ever come to a conclusion?
Why a picture is worth 70,000 words.
The Fell: A Novel
By Sarah Moss
This story’s quiet start belies its propulsive finish.
How listening to poetry soothes my insomnia.
Even if we’re masked up and socially distanced.
Lean Your Loneliness Slowly Against Mine: A Novel
By Klara Hveberg; translated by Alison McCullough
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A challenging, complex story of mathematics and misery.
The perils and pleasures of wanting to learn a language.
Or, road-tripping with my baby.
The pleasure of discussing books with my hairdresser.
Lucia
By Alex Pheby
This novelized portrait of James Joyce’s real-life daughter is a somber, difficult read.
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Reading to others all but guarantees focus.
Email can’t replace the magic of snipping out stories.
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Why I’ve come around to the idea of joining a book group.
On the slow, methodical progress of sweaters and stories.
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Culling a home library takes fortitude (and flexibility).
Remembering a dear friend and the many books we shared.
Jack: A Novel
By Marilynne Robinson
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Whether or not you’ve read Gilead, the author’s latest work is a balm for the soul.
Or, a date with the Perseids.
The Snakes
By Sadie Jones
A family-drama-turned-thriller that coils readers in a helix of terror.
My process for finding the perfect title.
Favorite childhood tales feel like long-lost friends right now.
The Night Watchman: A Novel
By Louise Erdrich
This affecting story probes the historical record for a narrative that is at once tender and hopeful.
The Dutch House: A Novel
By Ann Patchett
Beleaguered siblings wonder if there's really no place like home.
The Snakes: A Novel
By Sadie Jones
A family-drama-turned-thriller that coils readers in a helix of terror.
Normal People: A Novel
By Sally Rooney
Irish millennials move endlessly together and apart in this sometimes slow tale of love, class, and growing up.
The Dogs of Detroit: Stories
By Brad Felver
This award-winning (though dark) collection feels tailor-made for our divisive times.
Circe: A Novel
By Madeline Miller
An imaginative, intoxicating retelling of Homer's Iliad.
The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage
By Philip Pullman
Read this one as children do: with eyes and heart open, giving in, ready to be swept away.
What We Lose: A Novel
By Zinzi Clemmons
An emotionally charged tale of grief, rage, and the resilience of the human spirit
Mexico: Stories
By Josh Barkan
Dark tales of people in crisis by a talented and versatile writer.
The Muse: A Novel
By Jessie Burton
A dual narrative on the pains of war and the healing capacity of art.
The Lost Child: A Novel
By Caryl Phillips
This retelling of Wuthering Heights links the long-ago tale to a modern story of exile and difference.
Bliss House
Laura Benedict
Looking for a fresh start in a crumbling Victorian mansion, a mother and her daughter find tragedy and a secret from the past that continues to haunt the present.
Frog Music: A Novel
By Emma Donoghue
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A whodunit page-turner set against the backdrop of 19th-century San Francisco.
Silence Once Begun: A Novel
By Jesse Ball
All stories are fiction, as the saying goes. Facts are shaped by the observer.
Dark Lies the Island
Kevin Barry
Unease, violence and darkness run through this short-story collection, the latest work by the award-winning Irish author.
Children are Diamonds: An African Apocalypse
Edward Hoagland
A novel exploring the value and meaning of the human endeavor to heal and to rescue.
Flora
Gail Godwin
A tragic childhood summer haunts a woman years later.
The Burgess Boys
Elizabeth Strout
Three adult siblings are forced to reassess their assumptions and beliefs about personal history and identity when a teenager’s actions throw the family into crisis.
Artful
Ali Smith
How art, especially literature, illuminates life and love.
