There is no stopping the creative fire in the belly of Mary Murphy.
November 2024. Mary wins the Prolific Author Award and Best in Genre Award in the Page Turner International Book Awards and was shortlisted for the Best Fiction Award. Mary is currently a finalist in the Wishing Shelf Awards (TBA in the spring of 2025) for her anthology, Speaking Of – her novel, The Emerald Diaries-Secrets of an Irish Clan, and children’s book – Sweet Peas and Bees. The Emerald Diaries is also up for the Best Book Cover Award.
The Emerald Diaries -Secrets of an Irish Clan, is Mary’s substantially revised novel, that has garnered accolades and award nominations for two years running. In August 2024, this novel was a finalist in the International Book Awards, once again for content and cover design with luminaries such as Amy Tan and Sue Grafton.
Speaking Of is an eclectic anthology of multi-genre stories spanning numerous locations, including Greece, America, Ireland, Scotland and Canada. This book contains one novella, one novelette, many short stories, flash fiction and a few poems. This anthology was just a short-listed finalist in the Page Turner International Book Awards for 2024.
In the summer of 2023, Mary Murphy and illustrator Fiona Van Housen once again joined forces to create a whimsical garden adventure, ‘Sweet Peas & Bees ‘. This fourth children’s book collaboration is a testament to their artistic synergy, featuring original watercolours by Fiona and additional audio and extras by Mary for an enhanced reading experience. This book is a finalist in the 2024 International Page Turner Awards and the 2024 Wishing Shelf Awards.
There is also a children’s trilogy with audio – Away with the Fairies. WINNER of BEST IN GENRE AWARD in 2024 in the Page Turner International Book Awards. These fairy books have audio of Mary reading the content and delivering character voices. Whistler Book Awards said, “It takes skill to bring this diversity of dialogue to a story, and even more so to create an array of different voices and accents for the audio version.” Whistler Book Awards, Canada.
This immersive, multi-genre writer does not shy away from diversity of thought but rather embraces the challenges that it sets forth.
Mary is also a prolific musician, writing, recording and releasing ten full-length CDs (which include several Irish language pieces). She has added her voice and whistle to countless artistic projects (including a feature film), has been a touring artist for many years and is co-owner of Dove Creek Recording Studios (DCR is still operational, just closed to the general public as of 2023 after twenty highly successful years.)
Her releases have been hailed as “superlative and engrossing” by reviewers, readers, and listeners. Ms Murphy, born in Wexford, Ireland, is the mother of two grown children and currently lives on Vancouver Island, Canada, with her husband Paul, a dog named Norah and two cats, Lyla and Quilly.
Praise for Speaking Of
“This is a beautiful piece of writing. It is observational, descriptive, thought provoking and fully realised. There is an intuitive mind at work and a subtle curiosity here that values the reader. It rewards them with a bouquet of delightful stories that beguile and charm with equal measure.”
~ John O’Regan, Journalist/Broadcaster/Lecturer RTE/LCCR – Eclectic Celt, Ireland
“Your writing – weaves into the gardens of fine Irish wordsmiths. Yer a talented wee divil, so keep ‘dippin the pen’ and dream up more yarns, more of your lush images – that have stirred memories and emotions.”
~ Will Millar (Founder of The Irish Rovers)
“Our book club devoured Mary Murphy’s first book, ‘The Emerald Diaries’, and we can’t wait to get our mitts on ‘Speaking Of’. Mary has a way of connecting with the reader on a deep level to the point where the characters jump to life, right off the page, to sit with us as the story unfolds. The room gets very crowded.”
~ Lori K, New York Book Club