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Erika J. Simpson

Biography

Erika J. Simpson

Erika J. Simpson is a Southern girl living in Denver, Colorado, with her partner and their black cat. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Kentucky and is the recipient of the 2021 MFA Award in Nonfiction. Her essay, “If You Ever Find Yourself,” was published in Roxane Gay’s The Audacity and featured in BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS 2022, edited by Alexander Chee. THIS IS YOUR MOTHER is her debut memoir, and she also writes fiction for the page and screen.

Erika J. Simpson

Books by Erika J. Simpson

This Is Your Mother: A Memoir
by Erika J. Simpson - Memoir, Nonfiction

When Erika Simpson was growing up, her mother loomed large, almost biblical in her life. A daughter of sharecroppers and the middle child of 10, her origin story served as a Genesis. Her departure from home and a cheating husband, pursuing higher education along the way, a kind of Exodus. Her rules for survival, often repeated like the Ten Commandments, guided Erika’s own journey into adulthood. And the most important rule? Throughout her life, Sallie Carol preached the power of a testimony --- which often proved useful in talking her way out of a bind with bill collectors. But where does a mother’s story end and a daughter’s begin? In THIS IS YOUR MOTHER, Erika offers a joint recollection of their lives as they navigate the realities of destitution often left undiscussed.