Elizabeth Benedict's second anthology, What My Mother Gave Me: Thirty-one Women on the Gifts That Mattered Most (Algonquin, 2013) was a New York Times Bestseller.

Barnard Alumna Book Club Keynote!

Exciting news! MENTORS, MUSES & MONSTERS was chosen as the book by an alum that incoming Barnard freshmen would read over the summer for the Barnard Alumna Book Club, and I'll be giving the keynote address at this gathering tomorrow during freshman orientation, Thurs. Aug 29th. I'll be joined after my talk by Sigrid Nunez. We'll chat about her time at Barnard studying with Elizabeth Hardwick and about her essay on Susan Sontag in the anthology, which became the memoir, Sempre Susan.  Several years ago, Sigrid's novel, The Last of Her Kind, was chosen for this event. Mary Gordon is the third Barnard alum whose work is in the collection, and Caryl Phillips, who taught at Barnard for many years, also has an essay in it on growing up to become a writer. I'm thrilled to join this wonderful roster of alums whose books have been selected, which also includes Jeanette Walls, Anna Quindlen, and Lily Koppel.  

Philip Roth On a Mentor

Despite his famed retirement, Philip Roth's eulogy for a childhood mentor appeared in The New York Times yesterday, and I encourage you to read it here
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Word is spreading

I was touched to see that the founder and head of an elementary school in California is reading Mentors, Muses & Monsters, and was so struck by Alexander Chee's essay on Annie Dillard that she devoted a blogspot to it. Click here to read it. Thank you!

Center for Fiction - A Great Evening - Nov. 13!

Nov. 13. NYC. Please join Dani Shapiro, Thomas Beller, Maud Newton and me for this Mentors, Muses & Monsters panel at the Center for Fiction at 17 East 47th St, just off Fifth Avenue. Gail Kinn's donation of books by her late husband Jerome Badanes is at the heart of this very special evening. RSVP is necessary. $5 suggested donation. (Hey, it's worth it and more!)

Barack, Barnard & 3Ms

I was thrilled that President Obama chose to give a commencement address at Barnard this year, on May 14--thrilled for Barnard, from which I graduated, and for the attention it will bring to women's issues as the Republicans wage their war against women.
The Barnard reunion will be held a few weeks later, the weekend of June 1, and for the second year in a row, Mentors, Muses & Monsters will be used as an inspiration for getting reunion goers to remember people who mattered to them. In conjunction with The Moth, a Barnard alum from each decade has been chosen to do a public telling of her story of a mentor, muse or monster from her time at Barnard. I'm honored the book is part of the reunion program and looking forward to attending the event and posting the video when it's available.

Looking backwards and forwards...

Huge thanks to Porter Square Books in Cambridge, and to panelists Jay Cantor, Chris Castellani, and Elizabeth Searle, who joined me to talk about influence and mentorship - and specifically Bernard Malamud, John Hawkes, and the Bread Loaf writers conference, where Chris Castellani, now the Director of Grub Street, got his mojo back after a dispiriting time in graduate school. Many old friends showed up. It was great to be back at my favorite local bookstore!
This summer, I'll be teaching, as I always do, at the NY State Summer Writers Institute, and talking about mentorship and influence - and 3Ms - with the Young Writers, in their special program at Skidmore, and doing a panel with director Robert Boyers, also a contributor to 3Ms, at the end of the first week of July. Stay tuned for details.

Tin House Behind the Scenes & Out Front

Mentors, Muses & Monsters was conceived as a result of an essay I wrote for them about Elizabeth Hardwick. Once the book was sold, Sigird Nunez's piece on Susan Sontag was first published in Tin House as well. Here's a thank you to Tin House for all they've done.

Tin House Behind the Scenes & Out Front

Mentors, Muses & Monsters was conceived as a result of an essay I wrote for them about Elizabeth Hardwick. Once the book was sold, Sigird Nunez's piece on Susan Sontag was first published in Tin House as well. Here's a a thank you to Tin House for all they've done.

Writers' Valentines to their Mentors-Huffington Post

Click here!

Now in Paperback!

Why Writers Need Mentors ...

This wonderful tribute to the anthology appeared on the blog "3:17 AM" some time ago, but just came to my attention. It includes, among other goodies, a cover photo of one of Carolyn See's father's porn novels that she writes so splendidly about in her essay. Worth a look!

NOW IN PAPERBACK!

Mentors, Muses & Monsters is now in paperback, and also available on Kindle and through BN's ebook/Nook. Is there a writer, reader, MFA student, or librarian in your life?

From my "Preface to the Paperback" -- "Every book is special to its author or editor, but this anthology has a particular place in my affections for several reasons. When I asked the writers whose work you are about to read to contribute to the collection, I knew what they wrote would be good -- but there was no way of knowing just how good each of these essays would be. As they arrived in my e-mail inbox, one after another, and I read them sitting at the screen, I often felt the wind knocked out of me. It was clear from the depth of feeling and the care lavished on each sentence that the writers had devoted themselves to this project, to these tender and complex tributes to the people, books, and events that had altered the course of their lives...."

Thanks to all the contributors, the many magazine and journal editors who published these essays in connection with the anthology, and to the readers and reviewers who have praised them in public and private.

~~ Best, Liz Benedict

Congratz on 2 Notable 3Ms Essays

The latest Best American Essays 2010 is out today and 2 of the contributors to 3Ms have essays selected in the Notable Essay list, Maud Casey, "A Life in Books," and Cheryl Strayed, "Munro Country." Maud's wonderful essay about the influence of her writer parents (John Casey and Jane Barnes) first appeared in The Oxford American. Cheryl's essay on Alice Munro, which also won a Pushcart Prize, first appeared in The Missouri Review. Huge congratz to you both!

3Ms in Blue Hill, Maine

Last Thursday, two wonderful writers - Heidi Julavits and Ayelet Waldman - joined me to talk about mentors, muses and influences, at the Blue Hill LIbrary, in Blue Hill, Maine. In the audience were Bill Henderson, editor and publisher of Pushcart Prizes, which awarded prizes to two of our essays, and novelist Rafael Yglesias, author of the acclaimed A Happy Marriage.


Heidi and Ayelet told stories of their own literary influences (Heidi: a "very, very, very, very famous writer" who read the ms. of her novel and excoriated it and helped her in the process; Ayelet: Tobias Wolff, who said she didn't need to attend graduate school in writing and that her first non-mystery novel was "great"), and both had fascinating comments on the effect of motherhood on writing (profound and positive), and the clued us in on how their writer spouses (Ben Marcus, Michael Chabon) influence their work (ditto).


Thanks to all for a terrific evening. One of the book's pleasures is that the conversation about influence keeps going and growing.

Books, Nooks, Everything Apple, Kindles & Your Laptop

The question this summer isn't what to read but how to read it. So many devices, so little time.

Some shortcuts and tips on where to find 3Ms beyond your local bookstore:

For those sans Kindle, you can download Kindle software for free on Amazon.

* Buy the Kindle edition and/or download Kindle software for free onto your computer:

* Buy the ebook for the Nook and many other ebook devices.

* Download 3Ms onto your iPad through the iPad bookstore. It's $11.99.

Email me if you have difficulties with any of these programs: info@elizabethbenedict.com. And thanks for clicking through.

2 Essays Win Pushcart Prizes

Sigrid Nunez's essay on Susan Sontag, "Sontag's Rules," and Cheryl Strayed's essay on Alice Munro, "Munro Country," were both selected for Pushcart Prizes for 2011, after appearing first in Tin House and the Missouri Review, respectively. Both essays are scheduled to appear in the annual Pushcart Prize anthology this fall.

3Ms reunion in Santa Monica

Carolyn See, whose smashing 3Ms essay, "The Scholars and the Pornographer," first appeared on The Rumpus, was one of my mentors, though I didn't write about her in the book. She has been a model for me of literary generosity, good humor, and taking the long view. In Santa Monica earlier this week, we had lunch at Michael's, whose wonderful garden you get a sense of in these photos

Writers and Their Influences at UVa

Alice Randall joined the 3Ms last night for a panel at the Virginia Festival of the Book, along with contributors John Casey and Maud Casey. Our conversation will soon be available on the book festival website . I'll let you know when it appears. Thanks for checking in.

March 18-U Va Festival of the Book

Mentors, Muses & Monsters writers John Casey and Maud Casey will join me and author Alice Randall (The Wind Done Gone, Rebel Yell) on Thursday, March 18, at 8pm, for a panel on writers and their influences, on the opening night of this wonderful book festival held every year at UVa, in Charlottesville. John Casey is a professor in the graduate creative writing program and Maud Casey grew up in Charlottesville. Here's information on our event (tickets required) at the Festival and here's info about the Festival itself.