Patricia Bender
patriciabender.bsky.social
Patricia Bender
@patriciabender.bsky.social
Writer. @writingproject fellow. Poems and stories @beirbuajournal @AmherstWriters @MunLitCentre, Paterson Literary Review, @SwitchMicroMag and others.
Reposted by Patricia Bender
Beyond excited to share the news that my first poetry collection, Midnight at the Saltmarsh, will be published by @thegallerypress.bsky.social in May 2026! 💫✨
January 13, 2026 at 11:55 AM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
'My father taught me how to count. At first it was the number of fish he’d catch whenever he carried me to the farm pond down the hill from our house every Sunday.'
Beautiful portrayal of a father/son relationship by @kiptain.bsky.social @fictivedream.bsky.social
fictivedream.com/2026/01/12/m...
MicroMonday #39
Catch and Release by Kip Knott My father taught me how to count. At first it was the number of fish he’d catch whenever he carried me to the farm pond down the hill from our house every Sunday. By …
fictivedream.com
January 13, 2026 at 11:58 AM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
"...my father and I shared stories and worries and life’s little victories in those seventy-eight steps to and from the pond." Catch and Release by Kip Knott @kiptain.bsky.social #microfiction #MicroMonday series. Please click on the link below and enjoy
fictivedream.com
January 12, 2026 at 11:15 AM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
Please, PLEASE. Read this thread.
just a reminder that we aren’t even seeing the worst of what is happening in Minneapolis from someone detailed at the Whipple Federal Building yesterday
January 13, 2026 at 2:52 PM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
This week my imprint is publishing an amazing, odd but unputdownable novel, The Hitch by Sara Levine, and the book, deservedly, received one hell of a review in the NYT! www.nytimes.com/2026/01/11/b...
She’s Mad at Everything, but Not as Mad as the Dog Possessing Her Nephew
www.nytimes.com
January 12, 2026 at 11:03 PM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
Over the next four weeks NFFD’s @scooterwriter.bsky.social will be chatting to our microfiction comp judges. This week it’s the turn of @joannacampbell.bsky.social . Read what advice she has to give on writing micros & much more: www.nationalflashfictionday.co.uk/index.php/ne...
January 12, 2026 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
Somebody pinch me, because I’m … on the shortlist??? 🤯

Congrats to the other shortlisters. Can’t wait to read your stories!
Are you ready for a shortlist?

Here we are then...

🤩

My TOP TWENTY picks for the Welkin Writing Prize 2026.

Each of these is a marvel and a gem, and they'll be coming your way one by one over the next three weeks:

www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-prize...
January 11, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
Video message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckG...
www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...
Statement by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell
YouTube video by Federal Reserve
www.youtube.com
January 12, 2026 at 12:35 AM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
Chris Murphy: "It's reasonable for Democrats, speaking on behalf of the majority of the American public who don't approve of what ICE is doing, to say, 'If you want to fund DHS, I want to fund a DHS that is operating in a safe and legal manner.'"
January 11, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
A wonderful thing. Today is the FIVE YEAR anniversary of my first ever #WriteBeyondTheLightbulb course. Can't quite believe it's been that long. So, so grateful to everyone who has taken one of the courses since then. There have been A LOT of you. Today I'm starting course number FORTY!!!!
January 11, 2026 at 11:32 AM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
Are you ready for a shortlist?

Here we are then...

🤩

My TOP TWENTY picks for the Welkin Writing Prize 2026.

Each of these is a marvel and a gem, and they'll be coming your way one by one over the next three weeks:

www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-prize...
January 11, 2026 at 9:33 AM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
Here’s the unspoken truth: While we’re busy fighting each other, this administration is working overtime to funnel wealth from the bottom to the top.

That’s the whole game.
January 10, 2026 at 9:12 PM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
“Do not get lost in a sea of despair.”

- John Lewis #RIP
January 10, 2026 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
My origin story to becoming a doctor.

Thank you to @aft.org for giving me the chance and space to share it.
January 10, 2026 at 5:49 AM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
ICYMI — One of Trump’s untrained racist ICE goons slips and falls on the ice and his gun goes off in a residential Minneapolis neighborhood
January 10, 2026 at 4:47 AM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
CARTOON OF THE DAY

(From @BennettCartoons)
January 10, 2026 at 2:13 AM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
rare to see an american politician speak in these terms and it rocks
“When I speak about making our city more affordable, my vision is not limited to the homes that we live in or the child care that we’re making universal — it’s also a vision where we make it possible for working people to afford lives of joy, of art, of rest, of expression.”
Handing Out Free Tickets, Mamdani Says Theater Should Not Be ‘a Luxury’
www.nytimes.com
January 10, 2026 at 2:48 AM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
January 9, 2026 at 1:44 AM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
👇🏽
January 9, 2026 at 6:41 PM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
I’m writing about this right now and should be doing that instead of this. However this poem tracks with what I’m processing. I don’t really understand all the performative closure stuff we do culturally. It seems enough for me to know I’m done.
do not mistake
my silence
for forgiveness.
some things
i simply stopped
explaining.

[sometimes closure is quiet]

#poetry #micropoetry
January 9, 2026 at 2:11 PM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
A lovely thing. My newsletter now has more than 3000 (!!) subscribers. Amazed that so many of you want to read my waffle each month, but so grateful that so many of you do put up with me:

prattlefogandgravelrap.substack.com
Prattlefog & Gravelrap | Matt Kendrick | Substack
A monthly article series about the elements of short fiction: ideas for rocket-boosting your writing craft, reading recommendations, and other writing-related ramblings. Click to read Prattlefog & Gra...
prattlefogandgravelrap.substack.com
January 7, 2026 at 5:26 PM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
Welkin longlist day is one of my favourite days of the year. So wonderful to see everyone's joy and the general embracing of the competition by the whole writing community.
DRUM ROLL!!!! 🥁🥁🥁

It gives me great pleasure to announce the SPARKLING longlist for the Welkin Writing Prize 2026.

Congratulations to all the writers on this list. And commiserations to everyone else. The standard was incredibly high:

www.mattkendrick.co.uk/welkin-prize...
Welkin News | MattKendrick.co.uk
A writing prize open to all forms of narrative prose, be that flash fiction, short-short, vignette, haibun, hermit crab, prose poem or work that sits outside such labels.
www.mattkendrick.co.uk
January 8, 2026 at 7:53 PM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
Good job Sen Tillis
Hang the plaque!!!
January 8, 2026 at 8:12 PM
Reposted by Patricia Bender
Yesterday, Trump announced he wants to channel Venezuela's oil money into a slush fund for himself.

Hell no.
January 8, 2026 at 4:09 PM