Erin L. McCoy
Writer + Editor + Educator
Photo by Brooke Herbert.
Erin L. McCoy’s debut novel, Underlake, is forthcoming from Doubleday in 2026.
Her debut poetry collection, Wrecks, was published by Noemi Press on October 15, 2025, and was a finalist for the Noemi Book Award.
Erin’s work has appeared in Best New Poets twice. She was a finalist in the Missouri Review’s Miller Audio Prize and won second place in the 2019–2020 Rougarou Poetry Contest, judged by CAConrad. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in American Poetry Review, Conjunctions, and other publications.
Born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, Erin has lived in Malaysia, Spain, Russia, and Seattle. Her writing is deeply rooted in place and often engages with themes around environmental justice.
Underlake premiers on April 21
When a mother claims her missing daughter is alive beneath a lake in a flooded valley, a marine biologist descends into a hidden underwater settlement where those who refused to leave have built a sealed-off world—and where the consequences of that choice are beginning to surface.
“In the vein of Margaret Atwood and Emily St. John Mandel, McCoy’s novel is a thoughtful, ethereal story that . . . feels as though it came from the eerie depths it describes.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Mesmerizing . . . Through lightless tunnels and shimmering pools . . . this book illuminates how faith, language, and truth can warp or sharpen under extraordinary pressure.” —Susanna Kwan, author of Awake in the Floating City
“Stunning . . . Achingly true to the human need for hope and forgiveness, Underlakereveals the greatest depths are within the human heart.” —Ron Rash, author of The Caretaker
News & Updates.
Publications.
Erin’s poetry and fiction have appeared in Narrative, Bennington Review, Pleiades, Conjunctions, Beloit Poetry Journal, Nimrod International Journal, and other publications.
Education & Awards.
Erin holds an MFA in poetry and an MA in Hispanic studies from the University of Washington. She specializes in twentieth-century Spanish, Latin American, and US literature.
She has received a Fulbright Fellowship; a Critical Languages Scholarship; an Inprint C. Glenn Cambor Fellowship; and the Oakley Hall III Memorial Scholarship to attend the Community of Writers, among other awards.