BELLA'S BIO
WRITING
Bella Mahaya Carter is the author of SECRETS OF MY SEX, a collection of seventy-one narrative poems. Her poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction have appeared in The Sun, Onthebus, Calyx, Pearl, Literary Mama and elsewhere. She has written articles, interviews, and reviews for the Studio City and Sherman Oaks Sun, and her writing has appeared in the LA Weekly. Bella’s reviews of children’s picture books have been published in Midwest Book Review’s “Reviewer’s Bookwatch.”
Currently Bella is working on young adult fiction, a memoir, and another collection of adult poems. She is looking for a publisher for her children's picture book, A POMEGRANATE FOR MAMA.
Bella is a member of the Los Angeles Poets & Writers Collective, the Academy of American Poets, the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators, and is listed in Poets & Writers National Directory of Writers.
Bella teaches workshops and classes. She also works privately with writers at all skill levels as an editorial consultant and writing coach.
EDUCATION
Bella studied Dance at The Juilliard School, and graduated from Scripps College with a B.A. in Dance and Literature. She holds an M.F.A. in Film Production with a Screenwriting emphasis from the University of Southern California. (Her first Screenplay, THE EMERALD QUARTET, was a first-round semi-finalist in the Nicholl Fellowship Competition.) Bella recently completed her M.A. in Spiritual Psychology at the University of Santa Monica.
LIFE
Previous occupations include creative movement and dance teacher, choreographer, health club manager, sex hot line educator, cocktail waitress, and sales clerk.
When she’s not writing Bella enjoys time outdoors (hiking and camping) with friends and family. She does her best to maintain her yoga and meditation practices, spends the warmer months reading in her hammock (the best Mother’s Day gift imaginable), and enjoys preparing gourmet raw vegan food.
Her favorite poets include Sharon Olds, Molly Peacock, Billy Collins, Rumi, Charles Bukowski, William Blake, Anne Sexton, and Pablo Neruda.
Bella was born and raised in Long Island, New York, but has lived in Southern California all her adult life. She currently resides in the San Fernando Valley with her husband Jim, and their daughter, Helen.