Stephen Elliott (born December 3, 1971) is an American writer, editor, and filmmaker
currently living in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
who has written and published seven books and directed two films. He is the founder and former Editor-in-Chief of the online literary magazine ''
The Rumpus
''The Rumpus'' is an online literary magazine launched on January 20, 2009. The site features interviews, book reviews, essays, comics, and critiques of creative culture as well as original fiction and poetry. The site runs two subscription-base ...
''. In December 2014, he became senior editor at ''Epic Magazine''.
Background and education
Elliott grew up in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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. In his adolescence he was made a ward of the court
and placed in several group homes.
He attended
Mather High School
Stephen Tyng Mather High School (commonly known as simply Mather) is a public 4–year high school located in the West Ridge neighborhood on the north side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1959, Mather is operated by the Chicago Pub ...
and the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...
, and went on to receive his master's degree in cinema studies from
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
in 1996.
In 2001, he was awarded the
Stegner Fellowship from
Stanford University,
given to emerging writers in fiction and poetry. He was then the Marsh McCall lecturer in Creative Writing at Stanford University.
[Stanford University](_blank)
/ref> Elliott is Jewish on his father's side.
Books and journalism
Elliott went on the campaign trail and wrote a book about the 2004 U.S. presidential race, ''Looking Forward to It: or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying About It and Love the American Electoral Process''. His novel '' Happy Baby'', edited by Dave Eggers
Dave Eggers (born March 12, 1970) is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He wrote the 2000 best-selling memoir ''A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius''. Eggers is also the founder of ''Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', a lite ...
and co-published by McSweeney's
McSweeney's Publishing is an American non-profit publishing house founded by Dave Eggers in 1998 and headquartered in San Francisco.
Initially publishing the literary journal'' Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', the company has moved to ...
and MacAdam/Cage
MacAdam/Cage was a small publishing firm located in San Francisco, California. It was founded by publisher David Poindexter in 1998. In 2003, it published around 30 to 45 titles per year, primarily fiction, short story collections, history, biogra ...
, was released in February 2004. The paperback of ''Happy Baby'' was published by Picador in January 2005. His book ''My Girlfriend Comes to the City and Beats Me Up'' is a collection of S&M erotica, sometimes referred to as a sexual memoir, published by Cleis Press
Cleis Press is an American independent publisher of books in the areas of sexuality, erotica, feminism, gay and lesbian studies, gender studies, fiction, and human rights. The press was founded in 1980 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It later moved to ...
in 2006.
In April 2007, he published an essay about his experiment of not using the Internet for one month, writing: "I could feel my attention span lengthening. I would think about problems until I figured them out."
In 2008, he started ''The Rumpus'', an online cultural commentary site.
In 2009, he published a true-crime memoir about the Hans Reiser
Hans Reiser (born December 19, 1963) is an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, and convicted murderer. In April 2008, Reiser was convicted of the first-degree murder of his wife, Nina Reiser, who disappeared in September 2006. He subseq ...
murder trial called ''The Adderall Diaries'', which was adapted into the 2015 film of the same name, in which James Franco
James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. For his role in '' 127 Hours'' (2010), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Franco is known for his roles in films, such as Sam Raimi's ''Spider-M ...
played Elliott.
Films
In 2012, Elliott directed the film ''About Cherry
''About Cherry'' is a 2012 drama film and the directorial debut of Stephen Elliott. It is based on a script written by Elliott and porn industry veteran Lorelei Lee. It stars Ashley Hinshaw, James Franco, Heather Graham, and Dev Patel. The projec ...
'', based on a script written by Lorelei Lee and himself. The film starred Ashley Hinshaw
Ashley Grace (née Hinshaw; born December 11, 1988) is an American actress and model. She is known for her leading role in the 2012 film ''About Cherry'', and for her role in the 2016 Crackle television series '' StartUp''.
Early life
Ashley ...
, James Franco
James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. For his role in '' 127 Hours'' (2010), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Franco is known for his roles in films, such as Sam Raimi's ''Spider-M ...
and Dev Patel
Dev Patel (; born 23 April 1990) is a British actor. His breakthrough came in 2008 with the leading role of Jamal Malik in Danny Boyle's drama ''Slumdog Millionaire'', for which Patel was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Lead ...
, and debuted at the 2012 Berlin International Film Festival
The 62nd annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 9 to 19 February 2012. British film director Mike Leigh was the President of the Jury. The first five films to be screened in the competition were announced on 19 December 2011. Am ...
.
In December 2012, Elliott raised the funds via Kickstarter to shoot his second film, '' Happy Baby'', based on his novel of the same name. Production was completed on July 7, 2013 and the movie was released in 2016.
Published works
;Novels
*''Jones Inn'' (1998)
*''A Life Without Consequences'' (2001)
*''What It Means to Love you'' (2002)
*'' Happy Baby'' (2004)
;Essays and Non-fiction
*''Looking Forward to It: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the American Electoral Process'' (2004)
*''The Adderall Diaries: A Memoir of Moods, Masochism, and Murder'' (2009)
*''Sometimes I Think About It: Essays'' (2017)
;Short story collections
*''My Girlfriend Comes to the City and Beats Me Up'' (2006)
;Films
*''About Cherry
''About Cherry'' is a 2012 drama film and the directorial debut of Stephen Elliott. It is based on a script written by Elliott and porn industry veteran Lorelei Lee. It stars Ashley Hinshaw, James Franco, Heather Graham, and Dev Patel. The projec ...
'' (2012)
*''Happy Baby'' (2016)
*''After Adderall'' (2016)
Awards
*2001 Stegner Fellowship
Personal life and allegations of sexual abuse
In November 2015, Claire Vaye Watkins published an essay in Tin House
''Tin House'' is an American book publisher based in Portland, Oregon, and New York City. Portland publisher Win McCormack originally conceived the idea for a literary magazine called ''Tin House'' in the summer of 1998. He enlisted Holly MacArt ...
describing an incident where Elliott asked if he could sleep in her bed and left her uncomfortable. In 2017, Elliot was included on the "Shitty Media Men
Shitty Media Men was a crowdsourced Google spreadsheet created in October 2017 that collected allegations and rumors of sexual misconduct by about 70 men in the media industry, particularly in New York City. Moira Donegan, a former assistant edito ...
" list, a crowd-sourced Google spreadsheet containing allegations of sexual misconduct against men in the media industry. The allegations against Elliott included "rape accusations, sexual harassment” and “coercion". In October 2018, Elliot filed a lawsuit against the person who started the spreadsheet, journalist Moira Donegan.
After Elliott filed the suit against Donegan, according to ''The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'', former Rumpus managing editor Lyz Lenz
Lyz Lenz is an American author and editor. She was previously a columnist at ''The Cedar Rapids Gazette'' and served as managing editor of ''The Rumpus''. She is the author of ''God Land'' and ''Belabored''.
Life and career
Lenz moved from Ve ...
accused Elliott of groping her and described on Twitter an incident where Elliott "hounded" her about watching a movie in his hotel room. However the ''Daily Beast'' does not quote Lenz as saying Elliott groped her and Lenz' tweets linked in the ''Daily Beast'' article have since been deleted. In an article in The Stranger some of the accusations by Lyz Lenz were called into question. He frequents an SM club called Eureka in Tokyo where partakes in masochistic play.
References
External links
*
*
"Nude Awakening"
- excerpt from ''My Girlfriend Comes to the City'' on Salon.com
''Salon'' is an American politically progressive/ liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events.
Content and coverage
''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, including re ...
"Innocence Abroad"
- story from Nerve.com
Review of "The Adderall Diaries in The Las Vegas Weekly"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Stephen
1971 births
Living people
American male writers
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni
Place of birth missing (living people)
Northwestern University School of Communication alumni
Mather High School alumni
BDSM writers