Speaker Series: Martha McPhee

Local, award-winning novelist  Martha McPhee just published her first memoir, Omega Farm. Martha grew up on Omega Farm in Ringoes with her four sisters, five step siblings, mother, and stepfather, in a house filled with art, people, and the kind of chaos that was sometimes benevolent, sometimes more sinister. The pandemic brought Martha home again to her childhood farm to care for her ailing mother. With her husband and children in tow, Martha strives to nurture the present (along with a forest) while the past relentlessly asserts itself—even as Martha’s mother, the person she might share her memories with or even try to hold to account, no longer knows who Martha is. A masterful exploration of a complicated family legacy and a powerful story of environmental and personal repair, we felt this candid account would be one our community would find relatable as it raises so many urgent issues that impact women, teens, parents, families and backyard ecosystems everywhere. Martha will be presenting a live-narration of family photographs taken by her mother, the renowned Princeton photographer, Pryde Brown, and which capture the people and the world that made Martha the riveting truth-teller she is today.

MARTHA McPHEE is the author of the novels An Elegant Woman, Dear Money, L’America, Gorgeous Lies, and Bright Angel Time.  She is also the author of Omega Farm, a memoir. Her work has been honored with fellowships from the National Endowment of the Arts and The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.  In 2002 she was nominated for a National Book Award.  Her novels have been Best Books of The Year on The New York Times, Washington Post and Chicago Tribune lists.  Her essays and reviews have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers including The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Newark Star Ledger, Vogue, More, Harper’s Bazaar, Self, Traveler, Travel & Leisure, among many others. McPhee is a tenured member of the English Department at Hofstra University, where she teaches fiction. She lives in New York City with her children and husband, the poet and writer Mark Svenvold.