Karen Bender
Encyclopedia
Biography
Karen E. Bender grew up in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, and currently lives in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
with her husband, novelist Robert Anthony Siegel
Robert Anthony Siegel
Robert Anthony Siegel is an American novelist and professor. He is the author of two novels – All the Money in the World and All Will Be Revealed – and also professor at University of North Carolina Wilmington.-Education:...
, and their two children. She is the author of the novel Like Normal People (Houghton Mifflin, 2000).
Her short stories have appeared in magazines including The New Yorker, Granta, Ploughshares, Zoetrope, Story, The Kenyon Review, The Iowa Review. Her fiction has been anthologized in the Best American Short Stories
Best American Short Stories
The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of The Best American Series published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in contemporary American literature.-Edward O'Brien:The...
, Best American Mystery Stories, and Pushcart Prize
Pushcart Prize
The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are invited to nominate up to 6 works they have featured....
series and has been read as part of the "Selected Short" series at Symphony Space
Symphony Space
Symphony Space is a multi-disciplinary performing arts organization at 2537 Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Performances take place in the 760-seat Peter Jay Sharp Theatre or the 160-seat Leonard Nimoy Thalia theater. Programs include music, dance, theater, film, and literary readings...
in New York.
In 1997, she received the Rona Jaffe Writer's award. Bender has taught fiction writing at the Writer's Voice
Writer's voice
Writer's voice is the literary term used to describe the individual writing style of an author. Voice was generally considered to be a combination of a writer's use of syntax, diction, punctuation, character development, dialogue, etc., within a given body of text . Voice can be thought of in terms...
program in New York, as well as the MFA programs at Antioch Los Angeles, and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington
University of North Carolina at Wilmington
The University of North Carolina at Wilmington, sometimes referred to as UNC Wilmington, is a public, co-educational university located in Wilmington, North Carolina...
. She has received an NEA fellowship.
She teaches in the Department of Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and is co-editor of the nonfiction anthology Choice. She will be teaching at the 2011 Iowa Summer Writing Festival.
Works
- Like Normal People, Karen Bender, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, (April 14, 2000), ISBN 9780618126927
- The Curse of the Aspiring Messiah, Karen Bender, Southeast Review online