Our Philosophy

Escape the distractions of your busy life. Advance your craft and energize your writing with a challenging and supportive Writing Getaway. Join us at one of our upcoming writing retreats and take advantage of plentiful writing time, insightful feedback, good meals and good company. Get Away to Write.

History

Peter Murphy, a nationally recognized poet and educator, founded Murphy Writing Seminars in 1994 based on the belief that when writers leave behind the distractions of their busy lives to gather in an encouraging community, they will make breakthroughs in their art.

Murphy Writing currently offers five "Writing Getaways" held annually in locations such as New Jersey, New Hampshire and the United Kingdom. These Getaways offer plentiful writing time and challenging and supportive workshops with insightful feedback. The Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway has become one of the oldest and largest conferences of the winter season, attracting more than 200 writers from across the country. In 2012, Jane Street Press published Challenges for the Delusional, a collection of Peter’s writing prompts from the Winter Getaway and the poems they inspired.

Prior to starting Murphy Writing, Peter led hundreds of workshops for teachers, writers and other professionals for organizations including Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the N.J. State Council on the Arts and The National Council of Teachers of English. He was also an educational advisor to PBS programs on poetry including Fooling with Words with Bill Moyers. Through these experiences, Peter mastered the art of critiquing writers so they would not only improve their work, but feel empowered and inspired to do so.

In 2008, Peter hired his daughter away from her job as Deputy Director of Delaware Financial Literacy Institute. As Managing Director of Murphy Writing, Amanda Murphy handles the event planning, marketing and administrative aspects. Together they started Inservice Solutions to share Peter’s successful classroom teaching strategies with educators.

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Programs

• Writing Workshops & Getaways
  Get Away to Write. Escape the distractions of your busy life. Advance your craft and energize your writing with a challenging and supportive Writing Getaway. Join us at a retreat in the US or abroad, and take advantage of plentiful writing time, insightful feedback, good meals, and good company.
  Take a look at our upcoming writing retreats.
  
  
• PoetryNJ Listserv
  Our free Yahoo! Group will send you daily emails of poetry & prose readings, workshops, conferences and other literary events in NJ, NY, Philly & environs. Learn more.
   
  
• Inservice Solutions: Intelligent & Motivating Professional Development
  Specializes in providing on-site professional development workshops for schools that are rich in content, extremely practical and enjoyable. Subjects include English, Language Arts, History, Social Studies, Elementary and more. Learn more.

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Staff

Peter E. Murphy, Founder/Director :|: peter@murphywriting.com

Peter was born in Wales and grew up in New York City where he operated heavy equipment, managed a night club, and drove a cab. He is the author of Stubborn Child, a finalist for the 2006 Paterson Poetry Prize, and a chapbook of poems, Thorough & Efficient. His unique poetry writing assignments have been collected in Challenges for the Delusional (2012), published by Jane Street Press. In addition to receiving a 2009 Poetry Fellowship from the New Jersey Council on the Arts, he has received awards and fellowships from The Atlantic Center for the Arts, Yaddo, The Folger Shakespeare Library, and the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. He directs the Winter Poetry & Prose Getaway and other programs for poets, writers and teachers. Read more. . . .

Amanda Murphy, Managing Director :|: amanda@murphywriting.com

Amanda holds an M.A. from the University of Delaware in Economics and Entrepreneurship for Educators and has led workshops for students and teachers in venues including the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Previously she was Deputy Director of the Delaware Financial Literacy Institute, worked in arts management and for a London-based non-governmental organization. At Murphy Writing, Amanda handles the event planning, marketing and websites. She spends what's left of her time trying to keep Peter organized.

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