Aimee Bender

Aimee Bender is the author of four books: The Girl in the Flammable Skirt (1998) which was a NY Times Notable Book, An Invisible Sign of My Own (2000) which was an L.A. Times pick of the year, Willful Creatures (2005) which was nominated by The Believer as one of the best books of the year, and The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (2010).

From her Q & A with the Wall Street Journal:

The Wall Street Journal: How did you come up with the premise for "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake"?

Aimee Bender: I think it came from a few different places. One source is a friend of mine who talks a lot about feelings as something to be digested. Those words stuck with me in terms of the correlation between feelings and food.

WSJ: Are you a big foodie?

Ms. Bender: I love food. I'm not a great cook, but I love to cook and I like how different it is from writing.

WSJ: What kind of food do you cook?

Ms. Bender: Pretty simple stuff. Pastas, fish or briskets.

WSJ: Do you have an emotional connection to certain foods?

Ms. Bender:...[read on]

Learn more about the author and her work at Aimee Bender's website.

The Page 99 Test: Willful Creatures.

--Marshal Zeringue