Mother as Conjunction coming soon for purchase!

Synopsis

In Mother as Conjunction, you’ll encounter TV game shows, Elvis, and pyramid schemes. You’ll also come face to face with bullying, trauma, and violence. Marked by tenderness, humor, and images that gleam with precision, these lyric essays are especially concerned with the nuanced narratives of mothers and daughters—the “stories that become our songs.”

Praise for Mother as Conjunction

Erin Murphy’s compelling collection of lyric essays, Mother as Conjunction, is at times playful, at times reflective, always spirited and surprising. Murphy notices the world around her—she did so even as a child, we learn—and these hybrid essays recreate that world in glowing, evocative detail. 

 —Dinty W. Moore, author of Between Panic and Desire

Approaching the quirks of the 20th century with something shrewder than nostalgia and giving us a 21st century we might understand more deeply, Mother as Conjunction provides a glimpse into caretaking in all its myriad forms. The compassion Murphy feels for others and for her current and former self is transformative. This is a stealthy collection that builds beautifully into a generous, unforgettable reading experience.

—Lynn Melnick, author of I've Had to Think Up a Way to Survive: On Trauma, Persistence, and Dolly Parton

Erin Murphy’s work has appeared in The Best of Brevity, Best Microfiction 2024, and anthologies from Random House, Bloomsbury, and Bedford/St. Martin's. Her most recent books are Human Resources, Fluent in Blue, and Taxonomies. Her edited anthologies include Creating Nonfiction and Bodies of Truth: Personal Narratives on Illness, Disability, and Medicine, both of which won Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards. She is professor of English at Penn State Altoona.

Website: www.erin-murphy.com