News
The latest updates.
The Words of Dr. L selected as a best-written new work of speculative fiction by The Auraist
17 Jun 2025The Substack “The Auraist” selected “The Words of Dr. L” as a well-written new work of speculative fiction. You can read more about the site here.
Teaching NYC Writing Intensive August 8-10 in person in NYC
13 Jun 2025I’m co-teaching with my husband, Robert Anthony Siegel, in a workshop run by us, for fiction and nonfiction writers, the weekend of August 8-10 in Midtown Manhattan. A weekend to get feedback on your work in progress, connect with other writers, discuss the writing life. Email me at karenebender1@gmail.com for more information. Registration is open now.
The New Yorker reviews The Words of Dr. L!
28 May 2025“These often speculative stories take place in worlds in which troubling features of our own are amplified . . . Beyond the collection’s interest in political commentary, what most animates it is familial heartache.” The New Yorker reviews The Words of Dr. L in its Briefly Noted section.. You can read the full review here.
Interview with Jane Ciabattari up on Lithub
16 May 2025I talked to Jane Ciabattari about process and The Words of Dr. L for Lithub. You can read the interview here.
Booklist gives The Words of Dr. L a starred review!
09 May 2025Donna Seaman of Booklist says: “The concreteness of Bender’s language is in sharp contrast to the deep strangeness and troubling ambiguity afoot in the dystopian worlds her characters must navigate. A short story writer of disconcerting visions and virtuoso skills, Bender follows The New Order (2018) with a speculative collection that aligns the decimation of climate change and tyrannical regimes with the precarity of friendship and the bewilderment and longing of parents and children….Bender’s finely calibrated prose makes the most bizarre situations feel plausible and the most uncanny predicaments seem uncanny, while her psychological insights into marriage, parenting, guilt, memory, age, and loss are poignantly precise. These are many-faceted, deeply ponderable stories.” You can read the whole review 
Interview with Rachel Leon in The Chicago Review of Books for The Words of Dr. L
06 May 2025I talked to Rachel Leon at The Chicago Review of Books about my latest collection. You can read the interview here.
Los Angeles Times includes The Words of Dr. L on list, “Books to Read in May 2025”
01 May 2025Bethanne Patrick of the Los Angeles Times says: “Bend it like Bender and you get stories that are straight out of “Black Mirror” — sci-fi that’s immediately relevant — yet unlike that bleak series, Bender’s work always includes timeless empathy for characters, especially those struggling with invisibility. From families in quarantine during the global pandemic to a kidnapped therapist, her characters combine the familiar with the strange in fresh ways.” You can see the full list here.
Chicago Review of Books includes The Words of Dr. L on on list: “12 Must-Read Books of May 2025”
01 May 2025Michael Welch of The Chicago Review of Books says: “National Book Award finalist Bender’s third story collection examines the fundamental relationships that make up a life. Insights pierce depictions of the intrinsic connections of parents and children, family and friends. Bender’s stories take place not only in present-moment America and the COVID pandemic but also in speculative worlds in which, for instance, the titular character holds the secret, magic words that can facilitate her clandestine abortion. The Los Angeles native’s masterful sleights of hand reveal the dystopian elements of our current reality and the resonant aspects of far-off futures.” You can see the whole list here. https://chireviewofbooks.com/2025/05/01/12-must-read-books-of-may-2025/
Alta magazine includes The Words of Dr. L on list of new books for May
30 Apr 2025The Words of Dr. L is on Alta’s list of books by authors on and of the West; you can see the whole list here.
Kirkus Reviews included The Words of Dr. L as one of 20 Best Books to read in May
28 Apr 2025The Words of Dr. L is listed as one of 20 Best Books to read in May by Kirkus Reviews. You can read the whole list here.
Book Tour for The Words of Dr. L
17 Apr 2025I’ll be reading in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Iowa City for The Words of Dr. L. Info on each reaching here and in the events column.
“Beautifully crafted stories”–The Words of Dr. L is reviewed in Shelf Awareness
11 Apr 2025“In these beautifully crafted dozen stories, a National Book Award finalist examines the recent past and near future, and the choices human beings make in order to be in community with one another.” You can read the full review in Shelf Awareness here.
The Words of Dr. L is an Editor’s Pick in Kirkus Reviews
10 Apr 2025The Words of Dr. L was featured as an Editor’s Pick in Kirkus Reviews, the April 1 issue! Here is the page where it was featured.
The Words of Dr. L gets great Publishers Weekly Review
14 Mar 2025Publisher’s Weekly says about “The Words of Dr. L:” Bender’s impressive latest (after The New Order) explores relationships between friends and family with a mix of speculative and realist tales. The narrator of “The Words of Dr. L” lives in a dystopian future where pregnant women are required by law to become mothers. She hopes to end her pregnancy, breaking from her best friend Joanne, who joins a group called Protection, established to shield women’s fetuses from their “untoward thoughts.” In the unsettling and dreamlike “The Extra Child,” a couple drops off their youngest child at college, only to return home and find another child who “looked to be about ten” and claims to be theirs (“Suddenly, I knew it,” the mother thinks. “I had given birth to him, clearly in some sort of haze, and then I had forgotten him”). The most moving story, “Arlene Is Dead,” follows a family who care for their elderly relative Sylvia while weathering the Covid pandemic. In the monotony of quarantine, they become delighted by how animated Sylvia becomes when ranting about a self-absorbed friend. Bender’s more fantastical stories recall the work of Isaac Asimov, while her realist takes offer insight into the complex lives of characters navigating loss and disappointment. It’s an accomplished collection from a seasoned storyteller.”
The Words of Dr. L gets a starred Kirkus review!
10 Mar 2025“Highly original stories that speak to the challenges of being human in the 21st century.” Love this starred review from Kirkus for The Words of Dr. L. You can read the whole review here.