"Morris has an ability to wring a lot of emotion out of a few scant details, giving the feeling of a much longer work. Many share settings and characters, which contributes to a sense of interconnectivity and added meaning... she demonstrates a shrewd understanding of what makes her characters tick. In the end, readers will leave the collection feeling as though they’ve lived pieces of several real lives. A varied set of tales from a skilled practitioner of the short form."
-- Kirkus Reviews
1st Place, Pencraft Awards, Fiction - Short Stories/Anthologies
Finalist, Clara Johnson Award for literature with a purpose
Finalist, Independent Author Network Award, Short Stories
2021 Reader's Favorite Silver Medal Winner in Literary Fiction
Finalist, 2020 Best Book Awards, Fiction: Short Story
Notable 100, Shelf Unbound
In her debut collection, Lost Girls, author Ellen Birkett Morris takes a deep dive into the lives of women and girls, artfully mixing humor and insight to illuminate relationships and characters with crisp, elegant prose and wit.
Morris explores the experiences of women and girls as they grieve, find love, face uncertainty, take a stand, find their future and say goodbye to the past. A young woman creates a ritual to celebrate the life of a kidnapped girl, an unmarried woman wanders into a breast feeder’s support group and stays, a grieving mother finds solace in an unlikely place, and a young girl discovers more than she bargained for when she spies on her neighbors. Though they may seem lost, each finds their center as they confront the challenges and expectations of womanhood.
Ellen Birkett Morris is an award-winning writer, teacher and editor based in Louisville, Kentucky. Her fiction has appeared in Shenandoah, The Antioch Review, The Notre Dame Review, and The South Carolina Review, among other journals. Her commentaries have been heard on public radio stations across the United States. She is a winner of the Bevel Summers Prize for Short Fiction and the recipient of a 2013 Al Smith Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council. Morris holds an MFA from Queens University-Charlotte.
Lost Girls Reviews
Bookmarks: Literary Hub
Kirkus Reviews
Lit Pub: Beautiful and Contemplative
Southern Review of Books: Defiance and Female Relationships in Morris' Debut Collection, 'Lost Girls"
Book Public: Texas Public Radio
"Lost Girls' is a Great Addition to Your Summer Reading List
Elspells Book Blog
Story Circle Network
Finding Lost Things, The New Southern Fugitives
Don Noble, Alabama Public Radio
Magnum Opal
The Bookwormery
Lost Girls Interviews
Southern Review of Books: The Mystery and Female Power of Ellen Birkett Morris' Lost Girls
Kentucky Monthly Magazine: On Respect
Think Humanities Podcast
PowHer Books
Jane's Stories Press Foundation
Selected Prose Podcast
Chapters with Carter Seaton
The Perks of Being a Book Lover Podcast
Now, Appalachia Podcast
You Read It Here First
Finding Ellen Birkett Morris: An Interview with Dean Monti
Bidwell Hollow Interview
TBR: Lost Girls
Southern Literary Review
Book Q and A with Deborah Kalb
Our Turn: Q and A with Ellen Birkett Morris
One Question
An Interview with Sarahlyn Bruck
Lost Girls Features
Research Notes: Necessary Fiction
Let's Deconstruct a Story: Inheritance
If My Book
Lost Girls Playlist
Five Ways to Create Memorable Characters
The Revivalist: One Story-Helter Skelter
Hypertext: Excerpt, Heavy Metal
How We Are
Lost Girls Readings
Accents Radio
Hidden Timber Reading Series
Kathryn Ramsperger's Story Hour
INKY Reading Series
Flights Magazine
Morris explores the experiences of women and girls as they grieve, find love, face uncertainty, take a stand, find their future and say goodbye to the past. A young woman creates a ritual to celebrate the life of a kidnapped girl, an unmarried woman wanders into a breast feeder’s support group and stays, a grieving mother finds solace in an unlikely place, and a young girl discovers more than she bargained for when she spies on her neighbors. Though they may seem lost, each finds their center as they confront the challenges and expectations of womanhood.
Ellen Birkett Morris is an award-winning writer, teacher and editor based in Louisville, Kentucky. Her fiction has appeared in Shenandoah, The Antioch Review, The Notre Dame Review, and The South Carolina Review, among other journals. Her commentaries have been heard on public radio stations across the United States. She is a winner of the Bevel Summers Prize for Short Fiction and the recipient of a 2013 Al Smith Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council. Morris holds an MFA from Queens University-Charlotte.
Lost Girls Reviews
Bookmarks: Literary Hub
Kirkus Reviews
Lit Pub: Beautiful and Contemplative
Southern Review of Books: Defiance and Female Relationships in Morris' Debut Collection, 'Lost Girls"
Book Public: Texas Public Radio
"Lost Girls' is a Great Addition to Your Summer Reading List
Elspells Book Blog
Story Circle Network
Finding Lost Things, The New Southern Fugitives
Don Noble, Alabama Public Radio
Magnum Opal
The Bookwormery
Lost Girls Interviews
Southern Review of Books: The Mystery and Female Power of Ellen Birkett Morris' Lost Girls
Kentucky Monthly Magazine: On Respect
Think Humanities Podcast
PowHer Books
Jane's Stories Press Foundation
Selected Prose Podcast
Chapters with Carter Seaton
The Perks of Being a Book Lover Podcast
Now, Appalachia Podcast
You Read It Here First
Finding Ellen Birkett Morris: An Interview with Dean Monti
Bidwell Hollow Interview
TBR: Lost Girls
Southern Literary Review
Book Q and A with Deborah Kalb
Our Turn: Q and A with Ellen Birkett Morris
One Question
An Interview with Sarahlyn Bruck
Lost Girls Features
Research Notes: Necessary Fiction
Let's Deconstruct a Story: Inheritance
If My Book
Lost Girls Playlist
Five Ways to Create Memorable Characters
The Revivalist: One Story-Helter Skelter
Hypertext: Excerpt, Heavy Metal
How We Are
Lost Girls Readings
Accents Radio
Hidden Timber Reading Series
Kathryn Ramsperger's Story Hour
INKY Reading Series
Flights Magazine
