Image of Kerryanne Bell

Hostos alumna and Student Success Coach Kerryanne “Kay” Bell fell in love with writing in the sixth grade when her teacher introduced the class to haiku, an unrhymed form of Japanese poetry. “I immediately fell in love with the idea that words can form images and convey a multitude of feelings for both the poet and reader,” she shared. “I started journaling thereafter and eventually ventured into free verse poetry.”
 
Bell, who earned her associate degree in Early Childhood Education from Hostos, went on to pursue and nurture her passion for writing at The City College of New York, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in English and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. While at City College, she served as a poetry mentor and began pouring her heart into what would become her latest published work, a book titled “Diary of an Intercessor.” The book is a collection of poems written for her MFA thesis project between 2016-18, and the product of much self-reflection, personal growth and ongoing exploration of her “complicated” relationship with God.
 
“Each poem is it’s own story, bears it’s own weight, is pulled from my journey of self-discovery, resilience and spirituality,” Bell explained. “I talk to God in these poems. Sometimes in mourning, sometimes in anger, many times in awe and longing for a deeper connection. Though these poems offer no concrete solution for any question one may ask God, they do offer transparency for the loner, the weeper, the poetic wanderer. They work to depict the universal struggle between flesh and spirit and intercedes for harmony.”
 
The poems—written as hymns, songs, odes and elegies—explore difficult childhoods, parenting, ancestry, race and class in America.
 
Bell, who joined Hostos’ Student Success Coaching Unit (SSCU) in October 2019, has also had her work published in Brown Molasses Sunday: An Anthology of Black Women Writers,” “The Lily Poetry Review,” “Moko: Caribbean Arts and Letters,” and “The Write Launch.”
 
Published by Finishing Line Press, “Diary of an Intercessor” is will be released in January 2021. Preorder here.