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Contact Debra: by email
Debra Murphy
c/o Idylls Press
P.O. Box 3219
Ashland, OR 97520
USA
Bio:
Debra Murphy was born and raised in Champaign, IL and received her B.A. in History at the University of Illinois. She met her husband, Daniel, on a study year abroad in Austria. Though her ambition from her teenage years was to write novels, Debra’s primary job for many years was mothering a growing family of six children. She didn’t start writing in earnest until the 1990s.
Writing & Print Publishing:
After publishing a few short pieces on family spirituality in the U.S. and U.K. Catholic press, Debra’s first short story won the 1998 Kay Snow award sponsored by Willamette Writers. The story was published in issue no. 37 (Winter, 2002-03) of Image.
An early draft of Debra’s debut novel, The Mystery of Things, was selected as a finalist in the 2000 Pacific Northwest Writers Association fiction contest. Things was published in December 2004 by Idylls Press, the artisan small press Debra founded with the mission of publishing new and classic fiction in the Catholic tradition. In writing The Mystery of Things, Debra drew on a life-long love of Shakespeare, mythopoeic literature, and mystery/suspense tnovels, particularly the classic British mysteries of Dorothy Sayers and P.D. James.
in the realm of non-fiction, Debra was a contributing editor for Godspy from 2004 to 2008, where she published reviews and op-ed pieces on contemporary faith and culture. She has also contributed articles to Catholic Exchange, Second Spring, and This Rock.
Web Publishing:
An avid moviegoer, reader, Shakespeare fan, and WordPress geek, Debra curates and writes reviews for Bardolatry, a website devoted to Shakespeare-on-film, Catholic Fiction, and an e-mail newsletter called Quotes for Catholic Writers. Her most personal reviews and articles appear at Simply the Good Stuff, a blog she developed for her family, “Clan Murphy.”
Debra lives in beautiful Ashland, Oregon with her husband and six children.
Visit Debra’s Websites:
Debra’s homepage
Simply the Good Stuff (Clan Murphy blog)
Idylls Press (web & print publishing)
Bardolatry (Shakespeare on Film)
Catholic Fiction (News & Reviews)
