Ph.D. Students

Johnny Murray grew up in the rural wilds of central New York and has spent time living in Australia, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and the United Kingdom, as well as cities and small towns across the United States. He has held numerous jobs over the years, including stints as an itinerant housepainter, a night watchman, a caterer, a video store clerk, a laundromat attendant, a letterpress printer, a teacher, a library assistant, and a live-in groundskeeper for a dilapidated mansion and its adjoining estate. He is the co-founder of Unlock the Clockcase, a small nonprofit press. Currently, Johnny is pursuing a PhD in English at Boston College. He has published chapters in the edited collections The American Weird: Concept and Medium (2021) and Horror Literature from Gothic to Post-Modern: Critical Essays (2020), and has presented papers at international conferences in Göttingen, Germany, Manchester, England, Dublin, Ireland, and Halifax, Canada. In addition to his scholarly work, Johnny is the author of a poetry chapbook, Ghost Calling (2007), co-author and co-designer of an artists’ book, An Abecedarian (2007), and author of a seven-volume illustrated novel, Ripponlea (2021–24). Johnny holds an MA in English from Manchester Metropolitan University, where he graduated with distinction and earned the Head of Department’s Prize for Outstanding Achievement. He holds a BA in Philosophy from Vassar College.