Karen E. Bender - The Words of Dr. L

Iowa Summer Writing Festival instructor Karen Bender will read from her newest book, The Words of Dr. L & Other Stories. Described by publisher Counterpoint Press as "speculative stories of parents and children, together and apart, surviving near-future dystopias that feel all-too-possible—and realities that can be even stranger," The Words of Dr. L is Karen's third short story collection and fifth book. Matthew Klam, author of the novel Who Is Rich?, praises The Words of Dr. L as "beautifully written stories, [and] she uses words to describe thoughts and feelings that I’ve never seen described before," while Jennifer M. Brown, author of Shelf Awareness, says, "In Bender's investigation of isolation and community, parents and children, friends and seeming enemies, these twelve stories allow readers a wide lens through which to both contemplate world events and what may lay ahead—and to consider the vital role of compassion when weighing one's choices."

Karen E. Bender is the author of the story collections The New Order and Refund, a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction. She is also the author of the novels Like Normal People and A Town of Empty Rooms. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Granta, Zoetrope, Ploughshares, Story, Harvard Review, The Yale Review, The Iowa Review, and other magazines. Her stories have been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Mystery Stories, and New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, and have won three Pushcart prizes. She has won grants from the Rona Jaffe Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. She has taught for numerous MFA programs and is currently a visiting writer for the Stony Brook University MFA in creative writing and on the core faculty for the Alma College MFA program.

You may also like the following events from Prairie Lights Bookstore:

• This Friday, 25th July, 07:00 pm, Howard Megdal in conv with Lisa Bluder & Jan Jensen - Becoming Caitlin Clark in Iowa City
• Next Tuesday, 29th July, 07:00 pm, Anna Bruno in conv with Claire Lombardo - Fine Young People in Iowa City
• Next month, 8th August, 07:00 pm, Cory Hutchinson-Reuss - Triptych in Iowa City

Also check out other Arts events in Iowa City, Literary Art events in Iowa City, Festivals in Iowa City.