Sydney Dunbar is an aspiring writer who is currently pursuing her dream of attaining a Creative Writing degree from Middlesex Community College. A lifelong lover of books and the written word, she spends her time writing her own stories with fantastical and romantic themes. When not writing, she enjoys reading, playing video games with intricate storylines, and inspiring creativity and whimsy at the preschool where she works.
Sofia Fariole
Nicholas Hogan is an english literature major at MCC who plans to pursue teaching to spread his love of literature. He’s also a DDR editor and the weakest member of the slam poetry group Mill City Speaks. His inspirations include Timothy Liu, Sufjan Stevens, Thomasz Jedrowski, Kristin Hayter, Garth Greenwood, and Maya Marshall.
Willow Kelley is a spoken and written word poet from Lowell, Massachusetts. They were featured in the 2026 Intercollegiate Poetry Anthology as the representative for Middlesex Community College, and on Lowell’s youth slam poetry team Free!Verse in 2017. Willow also dabbles in writing fiction– mostly writing down their daydreams in the hopes that one day they’ll be more than that– and recording their podcast Title Pending. Willow’s chapbook Bong Rips for Breakfast, has been under revision since March of 2020.
Tom Laughlin is a professor of English and Coordinator of the Creative Writing Program at MCC. He was a founding editor of Vortext, a literary journal of Massasoit Community College, a volunteer staff reader for many years for Ploughshares, and he has taught literature classes in two Massachusetts prisons. His poetry has appeared in Green Mountains Review, Ibbetson Street, Drunk Monkeys, Pensive, Main Street Rag, and elsewhere. His poetry chapbook, The Rest of the Way, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2022. His website is TomLaughlinPoet.com
Emma Olson is a writer currently residing in northern Massachusetts and attending Middlesex Community College for Creative Writing. She is currently in the middle of revisions for a speculative historical novel and also dabbles in short fiction and poetry. Along with writing, she has been an editor for MCC’s literary magazine, Dead River Review. When not writing or studying, she works as a dog trainer for an animal shelter in New Hampshire.
Jake Shaw is an aspiring author and screenwriter enrolled in the creative writing degree program at Middlesex Community College. Writing ten minute plays developed into a love for screenwriting, and he enjoys writing with horror centric themes like isolation or paranoia. When not writing he enjoys going to concerts and playing video games.
As a current student at Middlesex Community College, Nick Todd is pursuing a Creative Writing Major. He writes about the ideas that interest him and wherever those ideas lead him. Often focusing on technology (because technology’s cool), he brings a cynical view to his writing, examining how technology impacts our lives and questioning its role in society.
