About Sheila Bender
I have been
writing seriously since 1975 and have taught writing since 1980. After
publishing many poems and essays in North American literary magazines and
anthologies, I published my first book about writing (Writing in a Convertible with the Top Down) in 1991 with co-author
Christi Killien, and since then, I have continued to produce many more books on writing. Creative Writing Demystified will be out
from McGraw-Hill, January 2011 and Writing
and Publishing Personal Essays, Second Edition, is available October 2010.
In September 2009, my memoir, A New Theology: Turning to Poetry in a Time of Grief, was published
by Imago Press in Tucson, AZ. A complete list of my books and how to
purchase them is available here.
Recently, I have been writing articles again for Writer’s Digest magazine and enjoying sharing my learning about how
to keep oneself writing. Over the years, my teaching expanded from local
community education courses in writing to speaking and instructing at national
writer's conferences and festivals as well as at colleges and universities. I
now offer online courses and serve as adjunct visiting faculty for Pima College
and The Learning Curve in Tucson, AZ. I served as curator for Seattle's Poetry
on the Buses program and as a judge for the Associated Writing Program and
Writer's Digest's literary contests. I am a frequent presenter at conferences,
most recently the Edmond’s Write on the Sound conference, The Centrum Writer’s
Conference, The Whidbey Island Writer’s Conference and low residency MFA
program, the University of Dayton's Erma Bombeck Conference, the San Francisco Jack London Writer's Conference, the Conference
on College Composition and Communication and the Society of Southwest Authors'
Conference. Each year, I am joined by a renowned faculty for the Writing It Real Writers' Conference. You can read
about the courses and seminars I am currently offering both online and
in-person here.
My passion is helping those who want to break their writing out into new forms,
revise effectively, generate more writing or facilitate the writing of others.
In the last three decades, I have worked with hundreds of people in colleges,
universities and workshops helping them write personal essays, poetry, fiction,
and writer's journals and allow writing a serious place in their lives. I've
provided teacher training in WA, AZ and CA.
In 2002, I conceived and launched Writing It Real,
my online instructional magazine, as a vehicle to help others foster their best
work, involve themselves in a community of people who write from personal
experience, and learn to teach others how to facilitate good writing. In 2005,
I developed LifeJournal for Writers with Chronicles Software.
I have an undergraduate degree in English from the University of Wisconsin, an
MAT in Secondary Education from Keane College and an MA in Creative Writing
from the University of Washington.
My references, including program directors, agents, editors, department chairs,
writing colleagues, publishers and students are available upon request, or
check the testimonials
page on my website.
So
may of write more completely, more regularly and with more incentive to explore
if we know we have a class or instructor waiting to hear from us.I am here for you and hope to read your work soon.
My very best to you on all your writing endeavors,
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