imported>InternetArchiveBot: Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.9.5

2025-03-25T14:09:32Z

Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.9.5

New page

{{short description|American novelist and short story writer}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox writer
| embed =
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Karen Bender
| honorific_suffix =
| image =
| image_size =
| image_upright =
| alt =
| caption =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| pseudonym =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 
| birth_place =
| death_date = 
| death_place =
| resting_place =
| occupation =
| language =
| residence =
| nationality = American
| citizenship =
| education =
| alma_mater =
| home_town =
| period =
| genre = Novels, short stories 
| subject = 
| movement =
| notableworks = 
| spouse = 
| partner = 
| children =
| relatives =
| awards = Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| years_active =
| module =
| website = {{URL|https://karenebender.com}}
| portaldisp = 
}}
'''Karen E. Bender''' is an American [[novelist]] and [[short story]] writer.

==Biography==
Karen E. Bender is the author of the short story collection ''Refund'', which was a finalist for the [[National Book Award for Fiction]] for 2015<ref name="NBA">{{cite web |title=Refund: Finalist, National Book Awards 2015 for Fiction |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/books/refund-stories |website=National Book Foundation |access-date=14 May 2023}}</ref> and on the shortlist for the 2015 [[Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.munsterlit.ie/FOC%20Award%20page.html |title=FOC Award |publisher=Munsterlit.ie |access-date=2018-10-18 |archive-date=May 12, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120512022257/http://www.munsterlit.ie/FOC%20Award%20page.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> She also composed the novels ''A Town of Empty Rooms'' and ''Like Normal People''; ''Like Normal People'' was a ''Los Angeles Times'' Bestseller and a ''Washington Post'' Best Book of the Year. Both her collections ''Refund'' and ''The New Order'' were longlisted for [[The Story Prize]].<ref name="TSP2015">{{cite web |title=The Story Prize Long List for Collections Published in 2015 |url=https://thestoryprize.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-story-prize-long-list-for.html |website=TSP Blog|publisher=[[The Story Prize]] |access-date=14 May 2023 |date=30 January 2016}}</ref><ref name="TSP2018">{{cite web |title= The Story Prize Longlist for Short Story Collections Published in 2018 |url=https://thestoryprize.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-story-prize-longlist-for-short.html |website=TSP Blog |publisher=[[The Story Prize]] |access-date=14 May 2023 |date=1 February 2019}}</ref>

Writing about "A Town of Empty Rooms", reviewer S. Kirk Walsh said in the ''Boston Globe'',
{{blockquote|In the very best of fiction, an intimate, spiritual communion momentarily transpires between reader and author. In the case of Bender’s novel, these moments occur during these flawless passages of authentic longing and isolation. Like some of today’s best contemporary realistic authors, Bender skillfully excavates and animates the human fragilities and missteps of life, transporting the reader deeper into the narrative and the interior lives of her characters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/2013/01/16/book-review-town-empty-rooms-karen-bender/526KJpVQRZ7Iy5UixCDZaI/story.html|title=Book review: 'A Town of Empty Rooms,' by Karen E. Bender - The Boston Globe|website=[[The Boston Globe]] |access-date=18 October 2018}}</ref>}}

Bender has taught fiction writing for the MFA programs at [[Hollins University]], [[Chatham University]], [[Tunghai University]] in Taiwan, and the [[University of North Carolina Wilmington]]. She is on the Core faculty for [[Alma College]] and is a Visiting Writer at the MFA program at [[SUNY Stony Brook.]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.arts.endow.gov/features/Writers/writersCMS/writer.php?id=02_02|title=''Writers Corner'', NEA|access-date=18 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130621063701/http://www.arts.endow.gov/features/writers/writersCMS/writer.php?id=02_02|archive-date=21 June 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> She has received grants from the Rona Jaffe Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. She is also co-editor of the nonfiction anthology ''Choice''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://karenebender.com|title=Karen E. Bender - Official website of author Karen E. Bender|website=karenebender.com|access-date=18 October 2018}}</ref>

Her short stories have appeared in magazines, including ''The New Yorker'', ''Granta'', ''Ploughshares'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pshares.org/authors/author-detail.cfm?authorID=6993|title=Read By Author - Ploughshares|website=www.pshares.org|access-date=18 October 2018}}</ref> ''Zoetrope'', ''Story'', ''The Kenyon Review'', ''Guernica'', ''Narrative'', ''The Harvard Review'' and ''The Iowa Review''. Her fiction has been anthologized in ''[[The Best American Short Stories]]'', ''[[The Best American Mystery and Suspense|The Best American Mystery Stories]]'', ''[[New Stories from the South]]'' and [[Pushcart Prize|The Pushcart Prize]] series and has been read as part of the "Selected Short" series at [[Symphony Space]] in New York. Her work has also been read by Levar Burton as part of his series "Levar Burton Reads."

She has written nonfiction for ''The New York Times'',<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/books/review/the-accidental-writer.html?_r=0|title=The Accidental Writer|first=Karen E.|last=Bender|work=The New York Times |date=25 January 2013 |access-date=18 October 2018}}</ref> ''Real Simple'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.realsimple.com/magazine-more/inside-magazine/life-lessons/living-in-taiwan-karen-bender|title=What My Family Learned From a Year of Living With Creepy Houseguests|access-date=18 October 2018}}</ref> ''O'' magazine<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oprah.com/book/The-Green-Road?editors_pick_id=57883|title=The Green Road|access-date=18 October 2018}}</ref> and others.

Her sister is novelist and short story writer [[Aimee Bender]].<ref>[https://www.idahopress.com/boiseweekly/arts_and_culture/lit/bender-sisters-discuss-ambiguity-of-cats-writing-for-fangoria-and-empathy-at-egyptian-theatre/article_1db35577-81ed-5eb3-8501-c9fc7a85f469.html Berry, Harrison (Mar 10, 2017). "Bender Sisters Discuss Ambiguity of Cats, Writing for Fangoria and Empathy at Egyptian Theatre."] ''Boise Weekly''. Retrieved January 9, 2024.</ref>

==Works==

=== Books ===

* {{cite book |last=Bender |first=Karen E. |title=Like Normal People |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=2000 |isbn=9780618126927 |location=Boston |author-mask=2}}
* {{cite book |last=Bender |first=Karen E. |title=A Town of Empty Rooms |publisher=Counterpoint |year=2013 |isbn=9781619020696 |location=Berkeley, CA |author-mask=2}}
* {{cite book |last=Bender |first=Karen E. |title=Refund: Stories |publisher=Counterpoint Press |year=2015 |isbn=9781619024557 |location=Berkeley, CA |author-mask=2}}
* {{cite book |last=Bender |first=Karen E. |title=New Order: Stories |publisher=Counterpoint Press |year=2018 |isbn=9781640090996 |location=Berkeley, CA |author-mask=2}}

=== Articles, essays ===

* {{cite journal |last=Bender |first=Karen E. |author-mask=2 |date=1999-09-13 |title=For the Fourth Prussian Dynasty |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1999/09/13/for-the-fourth-prussian-dynasty-by-karen-e-bender |journal=The New Yorker |url-access=subscription}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|https://karenebender.com/}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bender, Karen}}
[[Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:Novelists from Los Angeles]]
[[Category:American women novelists]]
[[Category:American women short story writers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century American women writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American short story writers]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Tunghai University]]

Karen Bender - Revision history

imported>InternetArchiveBot: Rescuing 1 sources and tagging 0 as dead.) #IABot (v2.0.9.5