President Murphy’s Book of Poetry Published

April 9, 2015

Best known in Vermont as president of Johnson State College and former president of the Community College of Vermont, Barbara E. Murphy also is an accomplished poet. Her first collection of poetry, Almost Too Much, has just been published by Cervena Barva Press of West Somerville, Mass.

Acclaimed writer and University of Vermont professor David Huddle says Murphy’s poetry in Almost Too Much “tactfully and relentlessly interrogates our human experience in these dehumanizing times.” Dzvinia Orlowsky, author of Silvertone and A Handful of Bees, calls the book “a stunning debut” with poems that should be “read aloud for their honesty and musicality. They do the heart good.”

Murphy’s work has appeared in several literary journals, including New England Review, Green Mountains Review, The Threepenny Review and Michigan Quarterly Review. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize and received a Vermont Council on the Arts fellowship.

The first in her family to earn a college degree, Murphy earned a B.A. in English from The Catholic University, an M.S. in community development from Southern Illinois University and an M.F.A. in writing from Warren Wilson College. She will retire in June after 14 years as president of Johnson State.

The book may be purchased from the publisher’s online bookstore at http://thelostbookshelf.com/.