Mary Jean Murphy is the former Managing Editor of the Columbia Journal, and her writing has been published or is forthcoming in Another Chicago Magazine, Epiphany: A Literary Journal, Vinyl Poetry and Prose, Washington Square Review, Scholastic’s Best Teen Writing of 2006, and more. She has given readings at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers’ House, and elsewhere.

Mary has received many accolades for her writing, most notably a 2012 Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Arts Award. She is an alumna of the SC Governor’s School for the Arts & Humanities (2008, Creative Writing), New York University (2012, BFA Dramatic Writing), and Columbia University (2016, MFA Nonfiction Writing). Between her studies at NYU & Columbia, Mary received over $400,000 in merit-based scholarships.

By day, Mary is the Director of Operations at Modern Martial Arts NYC, a small chain of boutique martial arts schools in New York.

 AWARDS

Epiphany: A Literary Journal: 2016, $400 first place prize in nonfiction, judged by Kathryn Harrison

Disquiet: Dzanc Books International Literary Prize: 2016, Semi-Finalist in nonfiction, awarded $500 toward International Literary Program in Lisbon, Portugal

Columbia University Writing Fellowship: 2013-2015, awarded $40,000 toward graduate studies

Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Arts Scholarship: 2012, awarded $150,000 to pursue a Masters in Writing

Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship: 2010, awarded $3,000 to study early education in London

Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship: 2008-2012, awarded $160,000 to attend NYU for the promotion of social justice

US Presidential Scholars Program: 2008, named 1 of 20 Presidential Scholars in the Arts by the Dept. of Education

Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery: 2008, creative nonfiction on display in the summer exhibit

National YoungArts Foundation: 2008, $5,000 Silver Award recipient in creative nonfiction

Scholastic Art & Writing Awards: 2006-2008, published in Best Teen Writing of 2006; received Gold Keys in poetry, creative nonfiction, and dramatic writing

Press/Interviews

NYU: Tisch Alumna Receives Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Arts Award

Epiphany Magazine: Interview with Mary Jean Murphy