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Megan Volpert is author or editor of over a dozen books on popular culture, including two Lambda Literary Award finalists and an American Library Association honoree. Her newest work is Straight Into Darkness: Tom Petty as Rock Mystic (University of Georgia Press, 2022) and she won Georgia Author of the Year for Boss Broad (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2019).
In addition to her work as Director of Insights for Halo Media, Volpert's other gigs include: part-time Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Kennesaw State University, part-time Adjunct Faculty in the MFA Writing program at Reinhardt University, and Fellow at the American Institute for Philosophical and Cultural Thought. She writes for PopMatters and has edited anthologies of philosophical essays on the music of Tom Petty and the television series RuPaul’s Drag Race. BIOGRAPHYMegan Volpert grew up in Chicago and lives in Atlanta with her wife, Mindy. Volpert holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Louisiana State University and taught high school English in public schools for sixteen years before moving to private sector consulting.
Her early intellectual development was framed by tournaments. She spent seven years as a nationally competitive debater in high school and college, then several more years slaying in poetry slams. Publications in her twenties focused on language play rooted in surrealism before turning toward a variety of hybrid forms invested in confessionalism. Volpert's work pivoted into non-fiction during her thirties, when she prolifically published opinion journalism or essays. Throughout her life and work, Volpert has been influenced by second-generation New York School poetry and experiments in performance studies. Volpert is a theory junky who cannot resist rock and roll. Her work is consistently argumentative. She used to drive a scooter. |
photos by Rob Friedman
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PUBLICATIONS
Why Alanis Morissette Matters
Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2025. Straight Into Darkness: Tom Petty as Rock Mystic Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2022. Perfume (Object Lessons series) New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022. Editor, Closet Cases: Queers on What We Wear Little Rock: Et Alia Press, 2020. Co-Editor, RuPaul's Drag Race and Philosophy Chicago: Open Court, 2019. Boss Broad Little Rock: Sibling Rivalry Press, 2019. Co-Editor, Tom Petty and Philosophy Chicago: Open Court, 2019. 1976 Little Rock: Sibling Rivalry Press, 2016. Order Sutra Philadelphia: Lame House Press, 2015. Only Ride Little Rock: Sibling Rivalry Press, 2014. Editor, This assignment is so gay Little Rock: Sibling Rivalry Press, 2013. Sonics in Warholia Little Rock: Sibling Rivalry Press, 2011. The Desense of Nonfense Buffalo: BlazeVOX Books, 2009. Face Blindness Buffalo: BlazeVOX Books, 2007. Domestic Transmission San Antonio: MetroMania Press, 2007. |
