Erin Murphy, professor of English, was the featured guest recently on the “Writers Association of Northern Appalachia” podcast. She also presented a reading as part of the Hometown Voices series and was featured in two literary journals.
ALTOONA, Pa. — Erin Murphy, professor of English at Penn State Altoona, has signed a contract for the publication of a new collection of original essays.
“Mother as Conjunction,” a collection of lyric essays, will be published by Harbor Editions in 2026. The subjects range from bullying and consumerism to space travel and sexual assault, with all of the essays grounded in language and the lived experiences of girls and women. At once humorous and poignant, the collection is especially concerned with the nuanced narratives of mothers and daughters.
Essays from “Mother as Conjunction” have been featured in “Brevity,” (and “The Best of Brevity”), “Creative Nonfiction,” “North American Review,” “The Cincinnati Review,” “Best Microfiction 2024,” and anthologies from Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, Michigan State University Press, Pearson, SUNY Press, among others.
Murphy is the author or editor of more than a dozen previous books, chapbooks, and anthologies, with two additional books forthcoming from Salmon Poetry and Wesleyan University Press. She is the Poet Laureate of Blair County, poetry editor of “The Summerset Review,” and Penn State’s inaugural Mellon Academic Leadership Fellow for the Big Ten Academic Alliance. Read more about her work on Murphy's website.
