Colleen Murphy

Colleen Murphy was born in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec and raised in Northern Ontario.  She won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama for Pig Girl in 2016 and for The December Man / L’homme de décembre in 2007.

She has been a Playwright-in-Residence at Finborough Theatre in London, U.K. in 2010-11, Necessary Angel Theatre 1997-2002, and Factory Theatre in Toronto; Playwright-in-Residence at the University of Regina in 2006-7; Mabel Pugh Taylor Writer-in-Residence at McMaster University in 2010; Writer-in-Residence at the University of Guelph in 2011; Edna Staebler Laurier Writer-in-Residence at Wilfrid Laurier University in 2014; Lee Playwright-in-Residence at the University of Alberta from 2014-2017, and Writer-in-Residence at the University of New Brunswick in 2018.

Selected plays include The Society For The Destitute Presents Titus Bouffonius (winner of 6 Jessie Richardson Awards and 3 Elizabeth Sterling Awards), The Breathing Hole/AGLU (shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, U.S., and Carol Bolt Award), I Hope My Heart Burns First, Armstrong’s War, The Goodnight Bird, Beating Heart Cadaver (shortlisted 1999 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama), and The Piper. Libretti include Oksana G., c. Aaron Gervais, for Tapestry Opera (nominated for 7 Dora Awards), My Mouth On Your Heart, c. August Murphy-King, for Toy Piano Composers/Bicycle Opera, and the upcoming Fantasma, c. Ian Cusson, for the Canadian Opera Company. Colleen twice won prizes in the CBC Literary Competition.  She is also an award-winning filmmaker and her distinct films have played in festivals around the world.