Erik Fuhrer

they/them

I have never quite felt at home in one discipline. My fashion sense is part Buffy Summers, part Blanche Devereaux, and part the lion from The Wizard of Oz. I wrote my way out of what happened to me by writing letters to fictional characters, and now I teach other people how to find their own way through.

I am a queer, nonbinary poet, playwright, and scarf tie aficionado. My published books span the themes of pop culture, psychology, horror, queer identity, and Virginia Woolf. I am very interested in the way that ideas shape who we are as thinkers, community members, and citizens. Taking risks and making interdisciplinary and unexpected connections is the intellectual space I feel most comfortable in.

I teach writing. I facilitate workshops and events for organizations. I build voices for mental health leaders whose public presence doesn't match the depth of their work. And I am building a writing and wellness community for people who carry something and need a form that protects them while they write about it.

Erik Fuhrer, Ph.D., PMP

Erik Fuhrer (they/them) is a queer, nonbinary poet, playwright, and trauma writing teacher. They hold a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow, an MFA from the University of Notre Dame, and a PMP. They are the author of eight books, including Gellar Studies (Spuyten Duyvil, 2023) and the forthcoming hybrid memoir My Buffed Up Life (Spuyten Duyvil, 2026). They were the UCLA Extension Winter 2026 Writer in Residence.

As Assistant Director at the University of Iowa's Center for Teaching, Erik led the design and facilitation of institutional programming on inclusive communication, implicit bias, and conflict across six departments, from public health to theatre to chemistry. They partnered with the Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature on public workshops and facilitated a session on sensitive topics for the Iowa Writers' Workshop. At Notre Dame, they designed and facilitated 24+ workshops on inclusive pedagogy and communication that earned a 90% positive feedback rating. 72+ workshops designed and facilitated across Iowa and Notre Dame.

Developmental editor on two published books, with named acknowledgments in both. Dr. Larry Ward writes in America's Morning: Night (Lotus Institute): "Thanks to the support of The Pink House, we gained the wisdom of Martha Bullen and Erik Fuhrer." Bernie Anderson writes in Rutherford: Dare to Dream: "The final editing step is always painstaking. It requires the touch of a true professional, someone who is sensitive and thoughtful yet attentive to areas of the manuscript in need of attention. It is my good fortune that Erik Fuhrer accepted that challenge." Additional editorial work on several other manuscripts.

Erik is the founding editor of Hushlit, a literary journal, where they have built the editorial pipeline and read hundreds of submissions over five years. They were an editorial assistant for ISLE, an Oxford University Press journal.

Their work has been featured in Psychology Today (twice), Drunk Monkeys, ANMLY, Bending Genres, Villain Era, Just Femme and Dandy, Channel Void, Sugar Sugar Salt, and an Edinburgh University Press essay collection on Virginia Woolf. They were the featured poet at the 32nd Annual Virginia Woolf Conference and a 2024 final judge for UCLA's Allegra Johnson Writing Contest. They serve on the advisory board of Chrysalis LA.

Their forthcoming book, Find Your Inner Guide Through Your Inferno: A Meditation and Writing Practice for Healing Through the Figures You've Always Loved, is targeted for fall 2026.

Books

My Buffed Up Life (Spuyten Duyvil, forthcoming 2026)
Gellar Studies (Spuyten Duyvil, 2023)
The Ocean and Its Movers (Free Lines Press)
Eye, Apocalypse (Spuyten Duyvil)
in which I take myself hostage (Spuyten Duyvil)
not human enough for the census (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press)
VOS (Yavanika Press)
every time you die (Alien Buddha Press)
At Root (Alien Buddha Press)

Selected Essays

"The Cost of Healing" and "Reach Out and Brush Faith" (Just Femme and Dandy)
"There She Is There They Are" (ANMLY; republished in Edinburgh University Virginia Woolf collection)
"Emmanuel" (Channel Void; republished in Sugar Sugar Salt)
"Riptides" (Bending Genres)

For When You Need Two Sentences

Erik Fuhrer (they/them) is a queer, nonbinary poet and author of eight books, including Gellar Studies and the forthcoming My Buffed Up Life. They hold a Ph.D. from the University of Glasgow and teach creative writing at UCLA Extension.