ALTOONA, Pa. — Erin Murphy, professor of English at Penn State Altoona and the 2026-27 Penn State Laureate, has won a national post-publication book award for “Human Resources,” her poetry collection of documentary poems about labor and employment.
The collection is the winner of the 2026 Storytrade Book Award in Poetry. Published by Grayson Books in 2025, “Human Resources” previously won first place in the Pennsylvania Press Club’s 2026 annual communications contest.
In her review in Plume magazine, Jennifer A. Sutherland writes that the book “engages with work performed in fields, in ramshackle warehouses and on assembly lines, spoken in the voices of the workers themselves in many cases,” adding that the poems “are thoughtful, layered and, for the right reasons, heartbreaking.”
Open to books published by university, small and independent presses, Storytrade Book Awards recognize literary craft, excellence and innovation.
Murphy is the author or editor of 16 books. During her year as Penn State Laureate, she is visiting campuses throughout the University to present and promote poetry and bring greater visibility to the arts, humanities and broader Penn State mission.