Leap Write In!

“Karen Benke gives young writers permission to explore the illogical, the heartspace, the wilderness of the imagination. Unlike other books, she offers guidance in centering and being kind to yourself—prerequisites to freeing your voice. The clear, compelling writing adventures she presents gently pull down any guard, any walls you might have in order to release the unexpected within.”—Betsy Franco, author of Falling Hard: 100 Love Poems by Teenagers

“Writing is always work, but it is also play—something most of us forget as we grow up. In this most engaging guide Karen Benke reconnects us with the mind at play: imagining and observing, listening and remembering. She nods to our hesitations and then encourages us to leap write in! With her lively and gentle invitations we find our stories and poems are everywhere—in hair and bones, backward poems and imaginary paintings.”—J. Ruth Gendler, author of The Book of Qualities

Karen (Karena) Benke is the founder of The Writer’s Nest, a creative literacy mentorship program for children and teenagers. She writes and publishes The Museletter, with a readership of more than two thousand internationally, and is a former Poet in the Schools.

She has presented her creative writing adventures program to thousands of children in hundreds of public and private schools, bookstores, libraries, and conferences, and read for the Library of Congress’s Lunchtime Poetry Series. Her poetry has appeared in anthologies and national literary journals, and her books have been featured in various publications.

The recipient of two teaching grants from Poets & Writers and writing residencies from Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Hedgebrook, Numeroventi Design Center (Italy), and The Moth (Ireland), she is co-author with Matilde Pettini of Lunch at Lola’s (Rizzoli, 2027) about the rising star’s trattoria, Dalla Lola, that was featured on National Geographic’s Tucci in Italy.

She divides her time between the San Francisco Bay Area and Florence, Italy, where she is always at work on a creative project.

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