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.
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:
Building Interiority in Characters Using Fantasies and Theories July 9, 7-9 pm EST via zoom:
Deep Dive into Dialogue: A Master Class into What People Say July 27, 12-5 pm EST via zoom:
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
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.
Joumana Khatib discusses my collection “Refund” in this article about books about money (in time for tax day.) You can read the article here.
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
Read Karen Bender’s 10 Ideas for Revision here.