MCC to Host Award-winning Poet as Part of Visiting Writers Series

Middlesex Community College will host award-winning poet Martha Collins as part of the college’s Visiting Writers Series at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 13 in the Bedford Campus Café East. The Bedford MCC Campus is located at 591 Springs Rd, Bedford.

“Writing is a solitary activity; people like me know that and value the time alone,” Collins said. “But we also need the mental and emotional stimulus of talking to others about what we do. Talking and teaching are community-making, for both teacher and learner. I share with my students and writer friends – and I also learn from them.”

A professor emerita at Oberlin College, Collins has published 11 books of poems, including “Casualty Reports” in October 2022 by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Her book “Because What Else Could I do” won the Poetry Society of America’s Williams Award. 

Her other poetry books include three works that focus on race and racism, including “Admit One: An American Scrapbook” (Pittsburgh, 2016), “White Papers” (Pittsburgh, 2012), and “Blue Front” (Graywolf, 2006). She has also co-translated four volumes of Vietnamese poetry, with a fifth coming from Milkweed in Spring 2023.

With her poems having appeared in a number of literary journals, Collins has co-edited anthologies and won several awards, grants and fellowships, including three Pushcart Prizes. Founder of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston, she served as Pauline Delaney Professor of Creative Writing at Oberlin for 10 years. She was an editor for Oberlin College Press where she currently teaches short-term workshops.

MCC Visiting Writers Series is co-sponsored by the Creative Writing Program and the Office of Student Engagement.

“The Visiting Writers Series provides our students opportunities to hear accomplished writers read their work; to ask questions of the writers about their craft, writing processes, writing and publishing journeys, writing advice, and individual creative works; and to speak one-on-one with writers,” said Tom Laughlin, MCC’s Creative Writing Program Coordinator. “After a recent MCC Visiting Writers Series reading, Creative Writing student Lexi Perry emphasized, ‘The entire event was a motivating experience for me as a writer.’”

MCC to Host Award-winning Poet as Part of Visiting Writers Series

Middlesex Community College will host award-winning poet Martha Collins as part of the college’s Visiting Writers Series at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 13 in the Bedford Campus Café East.

“Writing is a solitary activity; people like me know that and value the time alone,” Collins said. “But we also need the mental and emotional stimulus of talking to others about what we do. Talking and teaching are community-making, for both teacher and learner. I share with my students and writer friends – and I also learn from them.”

A professor emerita at Oberlin College, Collins has published 11 books of poems, including “Casualty Reports” in October 2022 by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Her book “Because What Else Could I do” won the Poetry Society of America’s Williams Award. 

Her other poetry books include three works that focus on race and racism, including “Admit One: An American Scrapbook” (Pittsburgh, 2016), “White Papers” (Pittsburgh, 2012), and “Blue Front” (Graywolf, 2006). She has also co-translated four volumes of Vietnamese poetry, with a fifth coming from Milkweed in Spring 2023.

With her poems having appeared in a number of literary journals, Collins has co-edited anthologies and won several awards, grants and fellowships, including three Pushcart Prizes. Founder of the Creative Writing Program at the University of Massachusetts Boston, she served as Pauline Delaney Professor of Creative Writing at Oberlin for 10 years. She was an editor for Oberlin College Press where she currently teaches short-term workshops.

MCC Visiting Writers Series is co-sponsored by the Creative Writing Program and the Office of Student Engagement.

“The Visiting Writers Series provides our students opportunities to hear accomplished writers read their work; to ask questions of the writers about their craft, writing processes, writing and publishing journeys, writing advice, and individual creative works; and to speak one-on-one with writers,” said Tom Laughlin, MCC’s Creative Writing Program Coordinator. “After a recent MCC Visiting Writers Series reading, Creative Writing student Lexi Perry emphasized, ‘The entire event was a motivating experience for me as a writer.’”