DeMisty Bellinger

About Me

(I'm going to Bread Loaf and I need some funds! http://igg.me/p/113271?a=642772)

I am a Wisconsin native. I have an MFA from Southampton College and a PhD in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. In the past, I have volunteered as a reporter for Milwaukee’s Riverwest Currents, written columns for the Lincoln Journal Star, and contributed to Lincoln's Star City Blog. My fiction is mostly online, including at Diverse Voices Quarterly, LITSNACK, and SpringGun Journal, and NAP. I enjoy reading and studying working class literature, women's literature, and African-American literature as well as other ethnic lit.

Also, I am a mother, a wife, an aspiring cat owner.

Why do you write?

I don't know what fuels my creativity. Coffee? Sex? Boredom? I do consider myself an author, and why do I write? The same reason why every other writer writes: I have to!

Any favorite authors? Books?

I like Alice Walker, especially The Third Life of Grange Copeland.
I like Ken Kesey, especially One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (of course) and Sometimes a Great Notion. I love Sherman Alexie. I like Edith Wharton--I read almost all of her books, but the eeriness of Ethan Frome makes it my favorite. I like Shakespeare, especially Macbeth. Beloved, next to Song of Solomon, are my favorite Toni Morrison novels. Herman Melville could write his butt off. Disgrace by Coetzee is a lovely book. The Inheritance of Loss by Desai is gorgeous. I liked The Life of Pi in spite of myself. Etc., etc.