MCC’s Dead River Review Releases New Issue

Middlesex Community College is proud to debut the 11th issue of The Dead River Review (DRR), MCC’s online literary magazine. Students in MCC’s Creative Writing and Publishing capstone course edited submissions and organized the final issue to gain hands-on experience with the publishing industry.

“Working for the literary journal has been an eye-opening experience as someone who’s never really seen the editing and publishing sides of creative writing,” said Willow Kelley, an MCC creative writing student from Lowell. “I value this semester – and the experience it’s brought me – and I hope more people in the future take this class and get to see all the hard work and love that goes into editing and marketing yourself as a writer.”

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Kelley enjoyed working in small groups of their peers to choose which pieces get published, noting that communicating with others who share different opinions was a valuable experience. Having never seen the editing and publishing sides of writing before, they learned a lot from their experience on the DRR publishing team.

A creative writing student, of Maynard, Sydney Dunbar shared that reading and editing her peers’ works inspired her to pursue the possibility of publishing her own writing. In addition to strengthening her editing and publishing skills, Dunbar incorporated the writing skills she learned from her peers into a new work she plans to publish in the Fall.

“I feel very grateful for the opportunity to work as an editor on the DRR,” Dunbar said. “This experience gave me a new perspective on writing – not just as a creator, but as a careful reader and collaborator. I’ve always been interested in and enjoyed editing, so working on the DRR strengthened my critical eye and deepened my appreciation for the craft of storytelling.”

Middlesex hosted a DRR Issue Release Party to present the new issue on Thursday, May 7 on the Bedford Campus. Contributors had the opportunity to present and read their work to an audience. Featuring the creative work of MCC students, alumni, faculty and staff, a variety of genres included poetry, graphic novels, translations, short fiction, creative nonfiction, music, visual art and more.

Led by MCC’s Creative Writing Program Coordinator and Professor Tom Laughlin, the DRR is created as a part of the Creative Writing and Publishing capstone course. The course allows students to expand their writing and editing skills while also learning about the publishing industry through work on the DRR and attending workshops featuring guest speakers, public readings, and more.

This year’s issue resulted in the largest issue of DRR, with 45 collaborators and 63 individual creative pieces. To produce the issue, students collaborated in editorial groups and as a full editorial board, including communicating with submission authors, editing works, and designing each page of the magazine.

“I’m proud of these students who worked hard through the complete publishing process of soliciting submissions from the whole MCC community, making thoughtful and careful editorial decisions, designing and creating each individual page of this online magazine, and helping to organize a release party,” Laughlin said. “I’m excited about the quality of Issue Eleven and celebrating the authors and artists and the richness of their work.”

Visit https://deadriverreview.com/ to read the new issue of the Dead River Review.