The latest updates.
“In an American moment where money rules and anxieties fester, Karen Bender has stepped in to tell all our stories with unsettling honesty, an eye for our absurdities, and an openness to the moments of grace that keep us going. Bender is a master storyteller and Refund is a superb collection.” –Tom Barbash, author of Stay Up With Me
A new short story, “For What Purpose?” is now up in the American Empires issue of Guernica magazine. The story is from my new collection, “Refund.” You can read the story here.
“The Emotional Power of Verbs,” which appeared in the Draft column last December, was noted in an online class taught by Susan Orlean in her Skillshare class. You can read about her class here.
Narrative.ly publishes my piece on Taiwan’s Homemakers’ Union Consumer Co-op. You can read the article here.
“Money, money! The things we’ll do to get it, the distortions (especially when children are involved) of the space between desire and satisfaction: these are Karen Bender’s subjects, which she handles with savage wit, great economy, and a brilliant instinct for the telling situation. Her stories floored me.” —Andrea Barrett, author of Archangel and Servants of the Map
“In Refund, Karen Bender offers us a vision of contemporary life that is tragic and deeply funny, disturbing and – most of all – true. These are stories about us, women and men living with the trappings of comfort and security, while anxiety thrums under the surface and a sense of calamity looms. This collection moved and enthralled me throughout.” —Danzy Senna, author of Caucasia and the story collection: You are Free
“These stories are among the best short fiction I’ve read in a generation. From the chains of straw and coins and angels that bind us to earth, Bender weaves not only gold, but the rings of Saturn.” —Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean and Second Nature
My article on pets, Taiwan, the low birth rate, and the complex nature of love is up on The Atlantic website: you can read the piece here.
“Refund” is coming out January 13, 2015, but you can order it here and here and here.
Rabbi Anne Perry reviews A Town of Empty Rooms; you can read her review here.
My short story, “The Sea Turtle Hospital,” has just been published in issue 46/47 of Story Quarterly. You can find out more about the magazine here.
You can read Kay Campbell’s review here.
A Town of Empty Rooms is now out in paperback; a new excerpt, “The Pinewood Derby,” is up on www.byliner.com. You can read the excerpt here.
I talk to Jon Winokur for his website, “Advice for Writers.” You can read the interview here.
Are verbs emotional? Yes, they are! You can read my essay in the New York Times here.