Award-Winning Poet and Writer to Speak at Middlesex CC

As part of the Visiting Writers Series, Middlesex Community College will host poet and writer DeMisty D. Bellinger at an outdoor event. By speaking at the college, she hopes to “show students that writing is a possibility, both as a career and hobby.”

“I want to help them understand the art of writing – and like any other art – its worth of exploration for the sake of beauty alone, as well as commentary,” Bellinger said. “Furthermore, I want them to know that there are writers who are active now, who are living people that create and try to interpret the world in the way that they know how.”

She also wants to emphasize to students the importance of writing as communication, whether it be through poetry and fiction or in more general ways, such as text messages, emails or articles. “We write to present our perceptions and to persuade others to see the world as we do,” she said.

Bellinger’s event will take place in the Bedford Campus Quad Canopy Tent at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 20. A poetry editor at Malarkey Books, Bellinger is also an alumni reader at Prairie Schooner. At Fitchburg State University, she teaches creative writing, African American studies, and women, gender and sexuality studies.

For her work, she has been awarded fellowships and residencies from the Vermont Studio Center, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and The Marge Piercy Intensive Poetry Workshop.

Bellinger has published two books of poetry, “Rubbing Elbows” (2017, Finishing Line Press) and “Peculiar Heritage” (2021, Mason Jar Press). Her fiction and nonfiction writing have been published in a variety of literary journals and magazines, including Necessary Fiction, Modern Poetry Quarterly Review, Kweli, The Ekphrastic Review, Diverse Voices Quarterly, Eureka and Forklift, Ohio.

Her poetry, fiction and essays have been included in anthologies, including From the Ashes: An International Anthology of Womxn’s Poetry, Best Small Fictions 2019, Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse, and Teacher Voice.

MCC Visiting Writers Series is co-sponsored by the Creative Writing Program and the Office of Student Engagement. Contact [email protected] or call 978-656-3363 or visit https://www.middlesex.mass.edu/english/creative.aspx for more information.

There is still time to register for MCC’s Fall Mini-mester session II, starting on Monday, November 1. Visit www.middlesex.mass.edu/registration/ or call 1-800-818-3434 to register.

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