The latest updates.
“A finalist for the National Book Award, lauded for her short stories, Bender returns with a collection that reflects America’s new reality.” The New York Times Book Review includes The New Order on a list of New and Noteworthy books. You can see the list here.
I talk to Jane Ciabattari about five story collections that shaped my work for Lithub. You can read the interview here.
I talk about The New Order with Mitzi Rapkin on her First Draft program on Aspen Public Radio. You can listen to the interview here.
“Bender’s previous collection of stories, Refund, was deservedly shortlisted for the National Book Award. Her latest, The New Order, is even better and more trenchant, a harrowing look into our present moment.” Jonathan Russell Clark reviews The New Order on Read It Forward, including it on this list of 21-Must Read Books about the current political era. You can see the list and review here.
I talk to Lily Meyer of the Los Angeles Review of Books about The New Order. You can read the interview here.
HelloGiggles.com reviews The New Order, calling it “one of the best collections of the year.” You can read the review here.
My essay, “If You Have These Traits You Might Be a Writer” is on the Lithub site. In it, I identify the traits that I feel are important to becoming a writer. You can read the essay here.
The Booklist Reader includes The New Order on list of Best New Books for the Week of November 6, 2018. You can see the list here.
Woman.com includes The New Order in a list of Books to Read Immediately in November. You can read the list here.
“Bender is an exquisite writer, and this books really will act as a brutally honest but empathic guide to navigating the now.” You can read the entire review and the list here.
“In her short story collection Refund (a finalist for the National Book Award), Karen E. Bender delivered a set of remarkable short stories that smartly unpacked her characters’ complicated relationship with money. Now, in this new short story collection, she turns a sharp eye to the instability that has taken over America in the past few years.” Bustle reviews The New Order; you can see the entire list of books here.
I offer some advice to writers on The Story Prize blog. You can read my post here.
My story, “When the Female Students of Mount Washington High School Didn’t Want to Go on the Tour of the White House,” a response to Francesca Woodman’s photograph, was part of the NY Times’ Instagram project pairing writers with eerie images. You can read the stories here.
Electric Literature features my story, “The New Order,” from my forthcoming collection, on the Recommended Reading site today, with a generous intro from Molly Antopol. You can read the story here.
My story, “The Elevator,” which appeared in The New Order, is published in Guernica magazine. You can read the story here.