Jesi Bender
Author Interview - Jesi Bender
Author of Child of Light
Thirteen-year-old Ambrétte Memenon has lived her entire life estranged from her family. After a series of financial failures, they reunite in upstate NY in the Spring of 1896. Together in the new house but basically strangers, Ambrétte endeavors to connect to her parents through their interests: Spiritualism for her Maman and electricity for her Papa.
In her pursuit, Ambrétte is drawn into a deep abyss of the unknown as she learns more about both death and the invisible pulse of the human spirit.
Author Interview - Jesi Bender
Author I draw inspiration from:
I've been in love with Kurt Vonnegut since I first read Cat's Cradle in middle school. I appreciate his ability to talk about big subjects in ostensibly simple prose.
Author Interview - Jesi Bender | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
Anywhere - bed, waiting rooms, on the bus, in the sun.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
A character I've been in love with since first reading is Baby Nostradamus from Salvador Plascencia's People of Paper. I'm hoping the baby and I could hold hands and my panicked mind would melt into a black buzz.
Author Interview - Jesi Bender | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
In ninth grade, we read The Great Gatsby and talked about the symbolism of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. From then on, I've wanted to scatter secrets for deep readers to find.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
My favorite is paperback. I'm too much of a proletariat for hardback and I need to be able to re-read and go back too much for audiobooks.
The last book I read:
The Known Southern Land by Gabriel de Foigny (Spurl Editions). It was good - the voice was surprisingly modern for an author from the 1600s.
Author Interview - Jesi Bender | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
My work, so far, has been experimental historical fiction so I do a ton of research before each project. When I'm taking notes from resources during my research, I use pen & paper. Then I transfer that content in an outline on the computer and finish everything there.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
I think I could be friends with Djuna Barnes, a real person obviously but also the subject of Jon Macy's incredible graphic novel Djuna. I like her hutzpah and pursuit of art at all costs.
Author Interview - Jesi Bender | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
Filmmaker or maybe work in theater (behind the scenes).
Favorite decade in fashion history:
My favorite decade is the 1890s, same time as Child of Light. I love Art Nouveau and Symbolist art, Victorian architecture, and, with the bike and first-wave feminism revolutionizing how women moved in society, fashion allowed for more androgyny. There was a rise in sportswear at the same time as a rise in aestheticism, so you had a very romantic but empowered fashion for women.
Place I’d most like to travel:
I'd love to go to Dresden, Germany because my family was originally from there and I'd want to see Vonnegut's slaughterhouse.
My signature drink:
I don't have one but I bet I drink more water than anyone you know.
Favorite artist:
I love Edvard Munch as a painter, Carole Maso as a novelist, Peter Weiss as a playwright, Federico García Lorca and Rainer Maria Rilke as poets, Ingmar Bergman as a filmmaker, and music always changes, probably Johnny Cash or David Bowie, though right now I've been obsessing over Sleaford Mods.
Number one on my bucket list:
I just want to make as much art as possible before I die.
Anything else you'd like to add:
Carole Maso says "Bender's Child of Light is an engrossing and enchanting work, following Ambrette's passage through a world both terrifically grounded and deeply mysterious. A sensual and attenuated reflection on the distances, on language and the ineffable, it is both ambitious and accessible, filled with an insatiable desire for something just out of reach. A melancholy, both romantic and mystical infuses the pages. A dark pleasure."
Find more from the author:
https://www.instagram.com/jesibuell/
https://bsky.app/profile/kernpunktpress.bsky.social
About Jesi Bender:
Author Interview - Jesi Bender
Jesi Bender is an artist from Upstate New York. She is the author of the novels Child of Light and The Book of the Last Word, the play Kinderkrankenhaus, and a poetry chapbook Dangerous Women. In her spare time, she helms KERNPUNKT Press, a home for experimental writing. www.jesibender.com.
