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The Endless Verbal with Aimee Bender (Episode 42)

We joined novelist Aimee Bender for a phone call that turned into a backyard conversation over Zoom. You're going to hear the sound of California birds (and possibly the odd car) as we unpack the beautiful mundane — truly a joyful conversation, especially if you're a writer (or interested in the process of writing). We touch on using writing to capture the manifold reflections of reality, the strange in the mundane, knowing your own quirky brain, finding relief in failure, and letting go to experience amazing surprise and wonder in our lives.

Aimee Bender is an American novelist and short story writer, known for her surreal stories and characters. Her first book was The Girl in the Flammable Skirt, a collection of short stories chosen as a New York Times notable book of 1998. Other notable publications since are her novel An Invisible Sign of My Own, which was named as a Los Angeles Times pick of the year, a collection of short stories, Willful Creatures, and the novel The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. Her most recent novel, The Butterfly Lampshade, was published in 2020. She lives and teaches in LA.

Links:
Fictionz, the podcast that did enacted episodes of Aimee's stories Off and Call My Name
Aimee Bender on Writing Without a Plan, Aimee's piece for Lit Hub that Nat mentions
Intimations, Zadie Smith's book of essays Aimee mentions
Take a look at Aimee's website to see all of her writing in one place, and follow her on Twitter