Demisty D BellingerDeMisty D. Bellinger was born and raised in Milwaukee. She went to the magnet schools that focused on art and graduated from the Milwaukee High School of the Arts. After taking a year off, DeMisty studied English at the University of Wisconsin-Platteille. She went on to receive an MFA in Creative Writing from Southampton College on Long Island, NY, and a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she focused on creative writing in fiction. In 2012, she attended Bread Loaf Writers Conference for fiction. DeMisty earned many accolades for her writing, including the Mari Sandoz/Prairie Schooner Award in Short Fiction while she was a student in Nebraska and a Vermont Studio Center fellowship in 2015. Her short-short, "Tiger Free Days," was listed in the Wigleaf Top 50 Very Short Fictions of 2014. Many of her poems, short stories, and essays can be found online in various publications, including Helen, Necessary Fiction, Driftless Review, WhiskeyPaper, Blue Fifth Review, and Former People: A Journal of Bangs and Whimpers. You can find links to many of her works at demistybellinger.com. Besides writing fiction, DeMisty plays viola with a community orchestra, raises twin girls with her loving husband, and teaches Creative Writing at Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts. Read More Read Less