Description
New hybrid work by Katy E. Ellis focusing on breaking away from patriarchal systems.
HOME WATER, HOME LAND explores the interior landscape and transitions a young woman must navigate to break away from her family’s patriarchal belief system so that she can find—or become—her own savior. As she dissects the past, she also pieces together a more open future that includes a new definition of faith, which she now offers to her own daughter. The narrative includes an array of genre and form footholds where readers can consider the effects of crossing the borders and boundaries of spirit, country, and time. HOME WATER, HOME LAND mainly takes place in the 1990s when environmental activism, female voices, and footage of racist police violence all rose in renewed, prominent waves from within the American psyche. In this era, the narrator leaves home and country for the first time to attend university in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Outside of her usual borders, her questions begin: When we cross a line away from our country of origin, does something change in us, making us more (or less) open to new ideas? And what power do we give or take when we set personal boundaries for what we believe in? As the narrator’s personal experiences broaden through travel and finding love, a bigger story unfolds around her through major historical events that mark time and create a collective “us” that is different from who we were before.
"Autobiographical in reach and structure, HOME WATER, HOME LAND by Katy E. Ellis records and chronicles a coming-of-age, the creation of marriage and family in conjunction with excommunication, expatriatism, and recounts Ellis’ experiences during 9/11. In all these movements—from church, land, and tragedy—it becomes apparent the collection excavates the realm of the exile and does so with grace and compassion marking it as an astonishing book by an exceptional writer." —Heather Simeney MacLeod, The Burden of Snow, Little Yellow House, Intermission
Literary Nonfiction. Poetry.
Author Bio
Katy E. Ellis grew up in Renton, Washington. Her chapbook Night Watch won the 2017 Floating Bridge Press chapbook contest. She is the author of two other chapbooks: Urban Animal Expeditions and Gravity, which was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She studied writing at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada and at Western Washington University. Her poetry appears in a number of literary journals including Pithead Chapel, Literary Mama, MAYDAY Magazine, Calyx: A Journal of Art & Literature by Women, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, and the Canadian journals PRISM International, Grain, and Fiddlehead. Her fiction has appeared in Burnside Review and won Third Place in the Glimmer Train super-short fiction contest. She has been awarded grants from the Elizabeth George Foundation, Seattle's Office of Arts & Culture and Artist Trust/Centrum. From 2014-2019, Katy co-curated WordsWest Literary series, a monthly literary event in West Seattle. She answers phones and processes electronic faxes of communicable diseases for Public Health-Seattle & King County, and lives on Vashon Island.
Author City: SEATTLE, WA USA