Kay Murphy is Professor Emeritus at the University of New Orleans where she has taught in the English Department, the Creative Writing Workshop, and the Honors Program, and has served as Poetry Editor for Bayou. Although she is retired, she continues to work with graduate students and to teach in the Low Residency MFA Program. She was awarded the Louisiana Division of the Arts Individual Artist Grant in 2002 for her poetry and a University-wide Excellence in Teaching Award in 2001. Since coming to UNO in the fall of 1984, she has published over fifty essay/reviews of contemporary poets in national journals such as The American Book Review, Chelsea, and The Spoon River Poetry Review. Besides reviews, she has published fiction in such journals as Ascent and Fiction International. Her heart-genre, poetry, has appeared in over 100 journals such as North American Review, Mississippi Review, Poetry, and College English. She is the author of two poetry collections: The Autopsy and Belief Blues. She has taught in Innsbruck, Austria; Montpellier, France; San Miguel, Mexico; Edinburgh, Scotland; and Cork, Ireland.