Aimee Bender

[November 5th, 2008]

You really should read: The Girl in the Flammable Skirt

Aimee Bender writes simple sentences that twist with a kiss into instant fables scotched with cruelty; that anklet themselves with baubles stolen by the very characters they describe. Which is to say, she’s the smart girl everyone likes. A friend of mine still brags about dancing with her once. Her most recent story collection, Willful Creatures (2005), contains robber boyfriends amid bulls of Spain, bereft parents with pumpkin heads, boys with keys for fingers, and still nothing that seems gratuitous. MATTHEW KORFHAGE. Noon Saturday, Nov. 8. Powell’s Books Stage.

What’s your personal writing ritual?
Two hours, in the morning, to the minute.

The most beautiful word in the English language is:
Today I love “loam.”

Name an inspiring, amazing piece of work:
J.D. Salinger’s short story “De Daumier-Smith’s Blue Period.”

Fight Club time: If you could fight one author (or critic), who would it be and why?
Someone that writes one of those “How to Write Fiction” books that is highly prescriptive. I find those books enraging.

Dream project:
I have a big current fantasy about a Broadway musical.

Most recent nightmare:
I’ve had a few dreams where my cell phone gets thrown in a lake or the ocean. It’s a half nightmare/half good dream.

Your cure for writer’s block:
Sit through boredom.

Pessimistic question: Will you keep writing even after people stop reading?
As long as there’s one reader other than myself.

Optimistic question: Kittens? Discuss.
I think they are good.