Penn State Altoona professor’s book wins international poetry award

ALTOONA, Pa. - Erin Murphy, professor of English at Penn State Altoona, has won the 2025 American Book Fest Best Book Award for her collection "Fluent in Blue."

Now it its 22nd year, the American Book Fest Awards recognize books in multiple genres, with previous winners including such notable writers as Amy Tan, Anne Lamott, and George Saunders. Murphy's book won in the category of general poetry.

Jeffrey Keen, President and CEO of American Book Fest, said this year's contest yielded thousands of entries from around the world, which were then narrowed down to the final results.

"Fluent in Blue" was published in 2024 by Grayson Books. Poet Nicole Cooley says the book "asks what it means to be fluent-in a language, in a place and time, and in a body," adding that she loves "Murphy's elegiac gaze and the fierce way she demands our attention."

The collection was previously a finalist for Ohio University's Hollis Summers Poetry Prize, the Alice James Award sponsored by Alice James Books, and the Word Works Books Washington Prize. It was longlisted for the Julie Suk Award sponsored by Jacar Press.

Murphy is the author or editor of more than a dozen books and serves as Poet Laureate of Blair County.