Carolyn Light Bell
Writing
Carolyn Light Bell has published poetry, essays and short stories in many print and online magazines.
They include: Amarillo Bay, Big Muddy, Blue Buildings, Crack the Spine, Croton Review,Diverse Voices Quarterly, The Dos Passos Review, Forge, Great Midwestern Quarterly, Grey Sparrow, The Griffin, Kansas Quarterly, Knock, Limestone, Louisiana Literature, Milkweed Quarterly, Minnesota Memories, Minnesota Women’s Press, moonShine Review, Northern Plains Quarterly, The Paterson Literary Review, Phoebe, Praxis, Reform Judaism, Response, RiverSedge, Tales of the Unanticipated, and West Wind Review. She lives in Minneapolis.
Ms. Light Bell has considerable experience reading her work both locally and regionally and has appeared on radio and television. She has organized poetry readings in high schools in the Minneapolis area and has edited literary magazines for youth. Her awards include the Croton-on-Hudson Review Award, Allen Ginsberg Award for Poetry, Editor’s Choice Award for Poetry.com.
Short Stories
Short Stories Collection
I Heard A Fish Cry - *In this collection of lovingly-crafted stories, I Heard a Fish Cry, Carolyn Light Bell portrays animals as witness, alter ego, adversary, and foil to illuminate human fallibility. These satirical, often playful, stories leave us questioning our own intelligence. Light Bell is far-reaching in her scope and is unafraid to take on the subtleties of class, animal rights, generational differences and sex. People in these stories advocate, fear, exploit, or defend a variety of creatures, including wolves, cats, dogs, birds, cougars, and bulls, dead or alive. Animals, in turn, reveal particular qualities in human behavior that leave us vulnerable. As the stories evolve, the reader discovers that within the heart and soul of every human being lies a deep, biological connection to all animals.
Buy it HERE.
Skateboards and a Sheepdog- Adelaide Literary Magazine, digital and print editions, forthcoming, September, 2017.
A woman and her dog encounter a hostile skateboarder while out walking, and face fear of a much greater scale.
Is There Such a Thing as a Bad Dog?- Penmen Review, July, 2017
As told by Oliver, the Bearded Collie
Entl the Birl - Shark Reef Online Journal, December, 2016
A girl, who acts like a boy, tangles with a trucker and lives to tell about it.
No Air - MENSA collection of Fiction 2016-17
Five characters speak their minds about what it’s like to be in an urban high school that’s more like a prison.
Four of them watch while the fifth takes action.
Stuff - Penmen Review, March, 2016
A sympathetic look into the psyche of a woman who hoards.
You Ain’t Got the Brains God Gave a Goose - Storyteller Magazine, 2016
Mensa may not be the best place to find new friends.
Canaries and Krumkakes - The Dos Passos Review, Vol 10.1, 2016
Norwegian cookies, dead canaries, and angry neighbors provide a hilarious mix of neighborhood eccentricities.
Stories from Old Pines - Cottonwood Magazine, 2015
Three humorous vignettes depict neighbors at a remote lakeside cabin.
Bumper Cars and Handicarts - Hobo Pancakes, March, 2015
Temporarily handicapped, the narrator leads us through the pitfalls of operating a handcart.
The Saga of The Missing Guitar - The Sommerset Review, Fall, 2015
Friendships, broken and repaired, teach forgiveness.
Old Enough Now - Diverse Voices Quarterly, Vol. 6 / Issue 20, 2014
A teenage boy faces an adult problem that helps him grow up.
Teufel - moonShine Review, Vol. 9 / Issue 2, 2013
Much to a woman’s dismay, her daughter chooses a very strange boyfriend.
Passing - Crack the Spine, Issue 73, 2013
Growing up as an assimilated Jewish girl in post-World War II America is fraught with pain and joy.
Back in Berkeley - Grey Sparrow Press, 2012
Satire of a well-known, trendy, upscale restaurant dishes up sub-standard fare.
All He Saw Was Summer - Amarillo Bay, 2011
An aging teacher learns something about romance from her high school students.
Catch and Kill - Praxis, Vol. 23 / No. 1, 2011
Children learn the cold facts of fishing.
Childhood Games - Phoebe, Vol. 23/ No. 2, 2008
Childhood friends repeat the same games as adults.
I Heard a Fish Cry - Phoebe, Vol. 19 / No. 1, 2007
A single woman navigates uncharted waters of the single dating scene.
Op Ed
Lionization musn't mask Luther's anti-Semitism
Before we, in the 21st century, proclaim Martin Luther as our latest superhero, Ms. Light Bell urges us to be more thoughtful leaders, to take a closer look at Luther’s deeply-flawed humanity, and to include all beliefs among the faithful.
Children's Books
Eleanor and the Little Tortuga
A bilingual children’s book has been printed and distributed as a contribution to Club Intrawest in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, this book celebrates the recovery of sea turtles by Mexican villages. Ms. Bell retains the copyright and is open to other avenues of publication.
Beautifully illustrated by Lucy Warner Bruntjen, it is a charming means to teaching children about the value of ecology.
Lala and Her Friends
A bilingual children's book about an animal refuge El Refugio de Potosi, in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, this book is studded with full color photographs of animals that are endangered in the region. Everything from the jeweled body of a boa constrictor to the brilliantly-colored military macaw is captured photographically to stimulate a child's natural love of animals.
Blurbs
On Confessions of a Paperdoll (an unpublished manuscript)
Carolyn Light Bell writes like an angel, an angel with an edge . . . a wonderful writer.
~Paulette Bates Alden, author, Feeding the Eagles
Intriguing and eloquently written . . .
~Ben Barnhart, editor, Milkweed Editions
Truly original, riveting, and shocking book. I enjoyed every page.
~Chris Fischbach, Coffeehouse Press
Command of the language is outstanding: descriptions so vital; vivid, beautiful detail.
~Jonathan Odell, author, The View from Delphi
Rhythmic voice . . . sharp and surprising . . .
~Linda Lightsey Rice, author, Southern Exposure