MCC’s Visiting Writers Series to Feature a Trio of Alumni

As part of its Visiting Writers Series, Middlesex Community College will host three alumni – John Sibley Williams, Katie Durant and Rob Mendonsa – during a live stream event where the writers will read from their work and answer student questions. The event will take place online at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, December 1. All three alumni credit MCC for helping them find their paths.

Williams came to MCC unsure of what he wanted to do for his career. MCC Professor Gail Mooney – in addition to his courses in writing and journalism – inspired his writing and creative vision. During his time at MCC, he also had the opportunity to work for the college’s newspaper, which won him the honor of representing Middlesex at a national journalism conference.

“MCC motivated me and provided me further tools toward my goal of being a writer and working in 'the book business',” he said. “My experience in journalism at MCC helped me attend State University of New York, then Rivier University, then Portland State University. That trajectory all began at MCC.”

Williams graduated from MCC in 2000 and now teaches poetry in addition to working as a freelance editor, writing coach and literary agent in Portland, Ore. He has published two books of poetry – “As One Fire Consumes Another” and “Skin Memory” in 2019 – and three poetry chapter books, “Summon” in 2019, “Disinheritance” in 2017 and “Controlled Hallucinations” in 2013. His work has been published in over 500 journals and he has won several awards, including the Philip Booth Award and American Literary Review Poetry Contest.

A 2009 highest honors graduate from MCC, Durant now teaches at Middlesex with her mentor and colleague Joe Nardoni, who helped her to nurture her skill, talent and joy for writing. She transferred to Wellesley College for her bachelor’s and earned an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Bennington College. Returning to teach at MCC allows her to help students who were in a similar position as she was when she came to the college.

“MCC was the place where I found myself and began to understand my place in the world,” she said. “Talking to students about writing is important because writing leads to critical thinking and understanding your own mind better. Writing leads to a kind of consciousness – an awareness of both the self and the world around us.”

Durant is the Editor-in-Chief of Dead River Review – MCC’s online literary magazine – and works as a freelance writer, tutor and editor. A creative nonfiction and fiction writer, her work has appeared in The Citron Review, The James Franco Review, The Voices Project, The Middlesex Review and Wellesley Magazine, among others.

Mendonsa came to MCC at 26 for a fresh start. As he was also working full-time, he chose MCC because it was close to home, offered flexible courses and was affordable. In addition to his studies, he worked in the Bedford Writing Center to help classmates improve their writing skills. Mendonsa credits his professors – Tom Laughlin, Kate Baker and Jonathan Bennett – for offering him guidance and support both in writing and in his career.

At MCC, he learned that writing is important because it allows people to express themselves.

“Writing is important because it is not only a way to organize ideas, but also a way to transmute indescribable emotions and experiences into art,” Mendonsa said. “It can help channel empathy and convert the human experience into something beautiful and awe-inspiring, allowing the writer to carve out pieces of their identity into living documents that stand as testaments over the limitations of time, space and human thought.”

A fiction and poetry writer, Mendonsa transferred from MCC in 2019 to attend Ithaca College where he is majoring in Writing with minors in Philosophy and English. He plans to graduate in Spring 2022 and go on to an MFA program.

MCC Visiting Writers Series is co-sponsored by the Creative Writing Program and the Office of Student Engagement. To reserve space, contact Tom Laughlin at laughlint@middlesex.mass.edu or Student Engagement at StudentEngagement@middlesex.mass.edu. Visit https://www.middlesex.mass.edu/english/creative.aspx for more information.

Registration is open for both MCC’s WinterSession and Spring Semester. WinterSession runs January 4-22. The Spring semester starts January 26. Visit www.middlesex.mass.edu/registration/ or call 1-800-818-3434 to register for classes.

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