I’ll be teaching online classes via Writing Workshops and the Iowa Summer Writing Festival this spring. Upcoming ones:
I’m teaching a series for Writing Workshops: Building Interiority for Characters. In each one, we’ll look at a different strategy to create interior worlds for your characters.
I’ll be teaching Building Interiority through Admiration, Envy and Judgement will be April 17, 7-9 pm via zoom through Writing Workshops:
Building Interiority through a Character’s Memory will be May 8, 7-9 pm EST via zoom through Writing Workshops:
Exploring Strategies for Story Beginnings will be Saturday, May 25, 12-5 pm through Writing Workshops:
Through the Iowa Summer Writing Festival online, I’ll be teaching:
Finding Your Story, a Weekend Intensive: April 26-28, 12-5 EST Saturday and Sunday, via zoom:
https://mcuw-uiowa.catalog.instructure.com/browse/iswf/iswf2024/iswfsp24/courses/iswf-finding-your-story-a-weekend-intensive-karen-bender-instructor-spring-2024
Strategies for Using Dialogue in Fiction and Nonfiction, Saturday, April 20, 12 to 5 EST via zoom:
https://mcuw-uiowa.catalog.instructure.com/browse/iswf/iswf2024/iswfsp24/courses/iswf-strategies-for-using-dialogue-in-fiction-and-nonfiction-karen-bender-instructor-spring-2024
The Alchemy of Character Development: A Four-Week Lab, Thursdays, March 28-April 18, 7-9:30 pm over zoom:
https://mcuw-uiowa.catalog.instructure.com/browse/iswf/iswf2024/iswfsp24/courses/iswf-the-alchemy-of-character-development-a-four-week-lab-karen-bender-instructor-spring-2023
Email me at karenebender1@gmail.com for more information these workshops, or if you want information on my writing coaching, private manuscript consults or help with MFA applications.
I’m excited to have a new story, “The Extra Child,” in this issue of Image Journal. You can read the story here.
My novel, “Like Normal People,” was included in Susan Straight’s map of 1,001 novels to read to find the real America. You can see the list here. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-05-28/american-novels-1001-literary-geography-map-states
I spoke with writer Muhammed Sheeraz Dasti about the role of image in writing fiction for the newspaper The News on Sunday in Pakistan. You can read the interview here