Michelle Engel received the Humanities Essay Award for her queer theory analysis of the 1987 film, The Lost Boys, while an undergraduate, and contributed to her college’s newspaper. Her completed degrees include a BA in English Literature and Language with a minor in Communications and the Arts, as well as an MA in English. Her Master’s Thesis considered archetypal underworld journeys as a symbolic framework for healing.
She was runner-up in one of Button Eye Review’s Halloween writing contests, and a finalist in a similar competition through a local museum. Her visual art, poetry, or short fiction have appeared in Glassworks Magazine, Button Eye Review, The Bangalore Review, Fifth Wheel Press's digital anthology The Truth Is in the Stars (and accompanying print edition), and the 4th Edition of Beyond Queer Words. Additional self-published poetry, short fiction collections, books, novellas, a memoir, and an epistolary project are available on Amazon.
Her art has been featured in local gallery shows at SAGE and The Art Garage. While included in an exhibit at the public library, she presented on her process and her theories of creativity.