Wikipedia

Ewan Morrison

Ewan Morrison (born 1968) is a Scottish author, cultural critic, director, and screenwriter. He has published eight novels and a collection of short stories, as of 2021. His novel Nina X won the Saltire Society Literary Award for Fiction Book of the Year 2019. Literary critic Stuart Kelly described Morrison as "the most fluent and intelligent writer of his generation here in Scotland".[1]

Ewan Morrison
Ewan Morrison (2014)
Born1968
Wick, Scotland
EducationGlasgow School of Art
AwardsSaltire Society Literary Awards

Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards
Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards

Not the Booker Prize
Websitewww.ewanmorrison.com

Life

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Morrison was born in Wick, Caithness, Scotland in 1968.[2][3] His parents are singer Edna Morrison and the poet, painter, and librarian David Morrison.[4][5] His father was a "literary figure of national significance"[4] but was also an alcoholic.[6][7] In interviews and essays, Morrison has talked about his unorthodox childhood in Caithness as a "hippie experiment".[8]

Morrison attended Pulteneytown Academy and Wick High School.[9] He was bullied by other children because he grew up as a cultural outsider and had a stutter.[10][7]

As a teenager, Morrison enjoyed making figures from modeling clay and decided to attend art school.[7] He attended Glasgow School of Art where he experimented with portrait painting and photography under Thomas Joshua Cooper before discovering documentary film making.[3][7] He graduated in 1990 with a first-class degree in art documentaries and also won the dissertation prize.[7][3]

Morrison has been a member of several organisations he later described as cults, the Socialist Workers Party, an organisation related to Tvind, and a New Age group.[11]

Career

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Film and television

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Morrison worked as a television and film writer and director from 1990 to 2004.[12] In 1992, he wrote scripts in Angers, France for three months after winning the Pepinières Scholarship Pour Jeunes Artistes Européens.[13] The Scottish Arts Council gave Morrison a Media Artists Award in 1994, allowing him to develop and direct several short films.[13]

In 2000, Morrison was nominated for a BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Director (Television) and Best TV Production for I Saw You.[14] I Saw You won the Royal Television Society Programme Awards for Best Regional Drama in 2001.[15][16]

From 2003 to 2005, Morrison was a resident scriptwriter at Madstone Films in New York.[12][6] However, after two years of work, his film project fell apart.[7] His first feature film screenplay, Swung (2007), was an adaptation of his novel.[17] Morrison was also a scriptwriter for Cold Call and Netflix's Outlaw King.[18]

Cultural critic

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Morrison regularly writes as a cultural commentator for newspapers, including The Guardian,[19][20] The Scotsman,[21] The Telegraph,[22] and The Times.[23] He is also a contributor to magazines such as Bella Caledonia,[24] The Psychologist,[25] Psychology Today,[26] Quillette,[27] and the literary journal 3:AM Magazine[28].

At the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2011, Morrison gave a talk where he predicted the end of print books in 25 years; a related article followed this in The Guardian.[29] He wrote that it will be impossible for authors to continue to make a living writing books due to changes in sales models and the decline of advances from publishers.[29] He has also written about the role of fan fiction in publishing and what he had dubbed the "self-epublishing bubble".[30][31]

Morrison was originally a supporter of Scottish independence; however, he later publicly stated that he had changed his mind and voted for remaining in the United Kingdom.[32][33][34]

Morrison says he uses writing to unravel the utopian/apocalyptic mindset that he was brought up with.[35] In 2016, he gave a TEDx Talk on the history and consequences of utopian projects.[35] He has also written articles about collectives and utopian projects.[36][37] His writings on this topic range from "top 10 books about communes" to an article about cults for Psychology Today.[38][39]

In a September 2014 article in The Guardian, Morrison said that young adult dystopian fiction serves as propaganda for "right-wing libertarianism".[40] This piece "sent shockwaves through sci-fi fandom",[41] resulting in responses from other writers and scholars.[42][43]

Author

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In 2005, Morrison received the Scottish Arts Council Writer's Bursary, a cash award that allows unpublished writers to devote time to writing.[12][44] Published a year later in 2006, Morrison's first book, The Last Book You Read and Other Stories, is a short story collection that explores relationships in the era of globalisation. The Times said it was "the most compelling Scottish literary debut since Trainspotting".[45] The Edinburgh Companion to Contemporary Scottish Literature says, "Undeniably Morrison’s collection of short stories makes a contribution to contemporary world literature".[46] However, Arena magazine responded by calling Morrison a "Scottish purveyor erudite filth".[7] One of the stories from the collection was made into the short film None of the Above.[47]

In 2006, Morrison received the UNESCO/Edinburgh City of Literature residency at Varuna, The Writer's House in Australia.[12] That same year, he was a finalist for the 2006 Arena Magazine Man of the Year Literature Prize.[12] New Statesman named Morrison to its list of "five young writers to watch" in March 2007.[48]

Morrison's first novel, Swung (2007) was about a Glasgow yuppie couple who work for a television company and get involved with the swinging scene.[49][50][12] The novel was adapted into a film in 2015, with Morrison writing the screenplay.[51] Distance was Morrison's second novel. It explored phone sex, parenthood, and two people involved in a long-distance relationship.[50][7] The Telegraph said, "[Morrison’s] narrative voice is completely original. His prose feels utterly contemporary, with a smooth, readable texture."[50] The Times called it "utterly compelling...Morrison is one of the finest novelists around".[52] However, other reviewers found the book depressing; Jonathan Cape of The Scotsman noted, "A death would liven things up" and there is "too much verbiage [and] conversational psychotherapy."[53]

Released in 2009, Morrison's third novel Ménage is about three dysfunctional artists living in a bisexual ménage à trois in 1990s London.[54] Morrison based the novel on his experiences within the fashionable nihilistic circles of the British art scene after graduating from art school.[28] The novel was inspired by the infamous ménage à trois between Henry Miller, his wife, and her lover.[6]

His 2012 novel, Close Your Eyes, is about a woman who was brought up in a hippie commune in the 1960s and 1970s and returns 25 years later to search for the mother who abandoned her.[55] Morrison has described the book as a partly autobiographical reaction to "coming to terms with a hippy childhood' and being raised by political extremists.[56][57][58][59] Close Your Eyes won the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards Book of the Year Fiction Prize in 2013.[60]

Morrison's Tales from the Mall (2012) is "a mash-up of fact, fiction, essays, and multi-format media that tells of the rise of the shopping mall".[61] Tales from the Mall won Not the Booker Prize in 2012.[62] It was shortlisted for the Saltire Society Book of the Year Award and the Creative Scotland Writer of the Year Award.[63][20]

Morrison's seventh novel, Nina X, was published in 2019.[64] Written as a journal, the novel is about a woman who was raised in a commune-cult without toys or books and escapes into the outside world.[64][65] Nina X won the 2019 Saltire Society Literary Award for Fiction Book of the Year.[66] It is currently in development as a movie by director David Mackenzie.[15]

How to Survive Everything is Morrison's eighth novel and was published in 2021.[67] This thriller, written in the style of a survival guide, is about a teenager who is abducted and taken to a bunker by her father who believes the world is ending.[68][65] The novel was longlisted for Bloody Scotland's The McIlvanney Prize 2021.[69] In 2022, the novel was optioned for a television series.[15]

Themes and style

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Literary critic Stuart Kelly described Morrison as "the most fluent and intelligent writer of his generation here in Scotland". Professor of Scottish literature Marie-Odile Pittin-Hedon says that Morrison's fiction and essays explore the human condition within the globalized world, similar to the subjects of postmodern sociologist Zygmunt Bauman.[70] In a summary written for the British Council, Garann Holcombe says:

In many ways, Morrison’s work, like that of Michel Houellebecq, who is very much his literary forebear, is extremely frightening. It deals with illusion and distance; with everything we manufacture to move us from language, dialogue, contact, knowledge, love, ourselves...In his universe, we are naive participants in an endless narrative invention based on a palimpsest of lies, stories and half-truths – wanting colour, but with no interest in what that colour is made of.[12]

Morrison's writing has been mistaken for that of a female writer,[71] because of his convincing portrayal of "a woman’s point of view about such topics as breastfeeding, depression and how it feels to abandon your child".[5]

For Morrison's first five books, he practiced "experiential writing", putting himself into new and often extreme situations to find material for his novels, including becoming a swinger, a secret shopper, and a New Age convert.[72][7] He admits, "All my characters are a bit of me but pushed to limits...."[7]

Awards

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Year Work Award Category Result Ref
2005 The Last Book You Read and Other Stories Arena Magazine Man of the Year Award Fiction Won [12]
2012 — Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards Writer of the Year Won [73][74][12]
Tales from the Mall Not the Booker Prize — Won [62][12]
2013 Close Your Eyes Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards Fiction Won [60][12]
2019 Nina X Saltire Society Literary Award Fiction Won [66]

Personal life

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As an adult, Morrison learned to manage his stutter.[10] He married and had two children.[7] After a film project he had worked on for two years in New York fell apart in 2005, Morrison says he "cracked up" and turned to "dangerous, alcohol-fuelled behaviour".[7] He lost his home and his marriage ended in divorce.[6][7]

He is now married to Emily Ballou, an Australian-American poet and former lesbian whom he met in 2006.[7][75] The couple lives in Glasgow.[7][9] They have collaborated on several screenwriting projects.[75]

Works

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Film and television

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Novels

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  • —— (2007). Swung. Jonathan Cape. ISBN 9780224078764.
  • —— (2008). Distance. Jonathan Cape. ISBN 022408237X.
  • —— (2009). Ménage. Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0224084402.
  • —— (2012). Tales from the Mall. Cargo. ISBN 0956308376.
  • —— (2012). Close Your Eyes. Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0224096230.
  • —— (2019). Nina X. Fleet. ISBN 0708899021.
  • —— (2021). How to Survive Everything. Contraband. ISBN 1913393151.

Short story collection

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  • —— (2005). The Last Book You Read and Other Stories. Chroma. ISBN 1845020480.

Articles

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References

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  1. ^ Kelly, Stuart (6 May 2019). "Book Review: Nina X, by Ewan Morrison". The Scotsman. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  2. ^ McGinty, Stephen (17 February 2024). "I'm the victim of a misguided experiment in utopianism". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "Ewan Morrison". National Galleries Scotland. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  4. ^ a b Gunn, George (7 September 2012). "Obituary: David Morrison, Poet, Painter, Editor, and Librarian". The Scotsman. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  5. ^ a b Christie, Janet (28 July 2012). "Interview: Ewan Morrison, Author of Close Your Eyes". The Scotsman. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  6. ^ a b c d Gallix, Andrew (28 August 2009). "More Thanatos Than Eros". 3:AM Magazine. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Brocklehurst, Steven (20 May 2014). "Ewan Morrison: King of the Swingers Is Happy to Settle Down". BBC News. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  8. ^ Wilson, Mike (28 June 2008). "Time and Place: Ewan Morrison". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  9. ^ a b Scott, David G. (1 May 2019). "Acclaimed Author Talks of Caithness Influence on New Novel". John O'Groat Journal and Caithness Courier. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  10. ^ a b Morrison, Ewan (22 June 2008). "My father made me scared to speak". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
  11. ^ Ewan Morrison (6 May 2019). "How did three generations of my family fall into cults?". Daily Telegraph.
  12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Holcombe, Garan. "Ewan Morrison - Literature". British Council. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  13. ^ a b c d e "The Contract". Torino Film Fest. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  14. ^ a b Hunter, Allan (2 November 2000). "One Life Stand Leads Nods for Scottish BAFTAs". Screen Daily. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  15. ^ a b c Petski, Denise (15 November 2022). "Ewan Morrison's 'How To Survive Everything' Optioned For TV Series Development By Made Up Stories, Fifth Season & Kindling Pictures". Deadline. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  16. ^ Wilkes, Neil (21 March 2001). "RTS Awards - Winners In Full". Digital Spy. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  17. ^ Andreas Wiseman (6 November 2013). "Works Swings for Kennedy's Swung". ScreernDaily.com. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
  18. ^ Glynn, Paul (24 May 2020). "UK film and TV: 'Expect Lots of Dramas in Space or Under the Sea'". Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  19. ^ Morrison, Ewan (30 July 2012). "Why social media isn't the magic bullet for self-epublished authors". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  20. ^ a b "Creative Scotland Awards: The Nominees". The Scotsman. 11 November 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  21. ^ Morrison, Ewan (22 August 2009) "Frozen Like Some Primordial Mud-Man and With Clothes Torn, I Saw The Stone Roses". The Scotsman. Accessed 19 February 2024.
  22. ^ Morrison, Ewan (21 March 2021) "Only the Arts Can Help Us Understand Our Lives in Lockdown". The Telegraph. Accessed 19 February 2024.
  23. ^ Morrison, Ewan (23 July 2009) "The Magic of a Ménage à Trois". The Times. Accessed 19 February 2024.
  24. ^ Morrison, Ewan (16 November 2010). "Why Y Matters (Mapping the Coming Consumption Patterns of Generation Y)". Bella Caledonia. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  25. ^ Morrison, Ewan (8 April 2019) "The Oceanic Feeling". The Psychologist. Accessed 19 February 2024.
  26. ^ Morrison, Ewan (12 March 2021) "Banning Conspiracy Theories Will Never Work". Psychology Today. Accessed 19 February 2024.
  27. ^ Morrison, Ewan (31 March 2019) "Milan Kundera Warned Us About Historical Amnesia. Now It's Happening Again". Quillette. Accessed 19 February 2024.
  28. ^ a b Morrison, Ewan (5 July 2009). "Death of a Nihilist or Obituary for a Nobody". 3:AM Magazine. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  29. ^ a b Morrison, Ewan (22 August 2011). "Are Books Dead, and Can Authors Survive?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  30. ^ Morrison, Ewan (13 August 2012). "In the Beginning, There was Fan Fiction: From the Four Gospels to Fifty Shades". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  31. ^ Morrison, Ewan (30 January 2012). "The Self-ePublishing Bubble". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  32. ^ Leatham, Xantha (16 September 2014). "Scottish Independence: Ewan Morrison's No Switch". The Scotsman. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  33. ^ Morrison, Ewan (5 July 2014). "I've Decided to Vote Yes". Bella Caledonia. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  34. ^ "From 'Yes' To 'No': One Scot's Shift On Independence". NPR (National Public Radio). 20 September 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  35. ^ a b Morrison, Ewan (27 April 2016). "Why We Would Be Happier Without Utopia". TEDx Talks. Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 1 April 2019 – via YouTube.
  36. ^ Morrison, Ewan (9 May 2018). "Why We Would Be Happier Without Utopia". Sceptical Scot. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  37. ^ Morrison, Ewan (8 March 2018). "Why Utopian Communities Fail". Areo magazine. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  38. ^ Morrison, Ewan (11 December 2013). "Ewan Morrison's Top 10 Books about Communes". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  39. ^ Morrison, Ewan (29 March 2023). "12 Signs That Someone May Be Involved With a Cult". Psychology Today. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  40. ^ Morrison, Ewan (1 September 2014). "YA Dystopias Teach Children to Submit to the Free Market, Not Fight Authority". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  41. ^ Isaacs, Jacqueline (23 September 2014). "The Free Market in Dystopian Literature". Faith and Public Life. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  42. ^ Skwire, Sarah. "Making Hamburger from Sacred Cows." Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, vol. 64 (October 2014): 39–40. via EBSCO, accessed 20 February 2024.
  43. ^ Tate, Andrew. Apocalyptic Fiction, 21st Century Genre Fiction, Bloomsbury Academic, 2017. p. 126. via EBSCO, accessed 20 February 2024.
  44. ^ "Scottish Arts Council New Writers' Bursaries". WritersServices. 4 June 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  45. ^ Gordon, Greg (26 June 2005). "For Ewan The Only Way is Up". The Times. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  46. ^ Schoene, Berthold, ed. (2007). The Edinburgh Companion to Contemporary Scottish Literature. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0748623969.
  47. ^ "None of the Above. 16 min. Directed by Siri Rodnes". Edinburgh International Film Festival. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  48. ^ “Five Young Writers to Watch.” (26 March 2007). New Statesman 136 (4837): 63. via EBSCO, accessed 20 February 2024.
  49. ^ Welsh, Irvine (21 April 2007). "Boys Keep Swinging". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  50. ^ a b c Thorne, Matt (31 August 2008). "Review: Distance by Ewan Morrison". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  51. ^ a b "Swung". Sigma Films. Archived from the original on 21 January 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2013.
  52. ^ Johnstone, Doug (27 June 2008). "Distance by Ewan Morrison". The Times. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  53. ^ Cape, Jonathan (11 July 2008). "Book Review: Distance". The Scotsman. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  54. ^ Kelly, Stuart (3 July 2009). "Book Review: Ménage, by Ewan Morrison". The Scotsman. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  55. ^ Housham, Jane (23 August 2013). "Close Your Eyes by Ewan Morrison – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  56. ^ Wilson, Mike (29 June 2008). "Time and Place: Ewan Morrison". The Times. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  57. ^ Moore, Lucy (26 August 2012). "Close Your Eyes by Ewan Morrison". Female First. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  58. ^ Morrison, Ewan (12 September 2012). "Coming to Terms with a Hippy Childhood". The Times. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  59. ^ Morrison, Ewan (8 March 2018). "Why Utopian Communities Fail". Areo Magazine. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  60. ^ a b "Empire Antarctica Named Scottish Book of the Year". BBC News. 3 November 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  61. ^ "Ewan Morrison: Shopping Channeled". The List. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  62. ^ a b Jordison, Sam (15 October 2012). "Not the Booker Prize: The Winner". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  63. ^ Brown, Criag. "Kelman and Welsh Vie for Top Scots Literary Prize". The Scotsman. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
  64. ^ a b "Nina X by Ewan Morrison Review – Life After Comrade Chen". The Guardian. April 2019. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  65. ^ a b Forbes, Malcolm (8 March 2021). "Ewan Morrison Topples Our Expectations". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  66. ^ a b "The Saltire Society Announces Winners of 2019 Literary Awards". Creative Scotland. 2 December 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  67. ^ Massie, Allan (24 February 2021). "Book Review: How To Survive Everything, by Ewan Morrison". Scotsman Online. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  68. ^ "How To Survive Everything by Ewan Morrison". Saraband. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  69. ^ "McIlvanney Prize Longlist 2021". Bloody Scotland. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  70. ^ Pittin-Hedon, Marie-Odile (2015). The Space of Fiction: Voices From Scotland in a Post-Devolution Age. Scottish Literature International. ISBN 9781908980090. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  71. ^ "A Conversation with Ewan Morrison". Radikal News. 7 March 2015. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  72. ^ "Theme: #FindX". Ted.com. 28 February 2016. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  73. ^ Ferguson, Brian (29 November 2012). "Farmer who took on Trump triumphs in Spirit awards". The Scotsman. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  74. ^ Bump, Philip (4 December 2012). "Scot who stood up to Trump development deservedly named 'Top Scot'". Grist. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  75. ^ a b c Lowry, Brian (24 October 2013). "TV Review: 'American Blackout,' 'War of the Worlds:' Tapping into Fear in Different Eras". Variety. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  76. ^ "Blue Christmas". National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  77. ^ "The Contract". National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  78. ^ "The Proposal". National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  79. ^ "I Saw You". National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  80. ^ "The Lovers". National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  81. ^ "Film: The Lovers". British Council. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  82. ^ "Swung (2015)". Letterboxed. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  83. ^ "None of the Above (2018)". Siri Rødnes. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
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