Beth Kander

Agent: Allison Hellegers

Beth Kander's darkly funny debut novel I Made It Out Of Clay (Mira/HarperCollins, 2024) was an instant USA Today bestseller and hailed as “a delight” by Publishers Weekly. She is also the author of the popular picture book Do Not Eat This Book! (Sleeping Bear Press, 2023).

A longtime playwright, Beth was a 2024-2025 Dramatists Guild Foundation National Fellow; her plays include Hazardous Materials, To The Moon, and Mountain Octopus, among others. Her writing has appeared in Oprah Daily, Writer’s Digest, Slackjaw, Frazzled, American Theatre, and elsewhere. Described as a “genre-defying author and playwright” (Oxford American), her stories often explore how worlds old and new connect—or collide. 

Beth resides in Chicagoland, and is lucky to live there with her favorite characters: her husband, their two hilarious kids, and a giant rescue dog named Oz.

SELECTED HONORS & AWARDS

USA Today Bestseller (2024); Dramatists Guild Foundation National Fellow (2024-2025); Henry Award for Best New Play or Musical (2023-2024); NJPP Finalist (2023); Hey Alma! Pitch Challenge (2022); T. Jefferson Carey Memorial Playwriting Award (2022); Henry Award for Best New Play or Musical (2019-2020); PitchWars (2019); Indie Best Bronze Medal (2019); Headwaters New Play Award (2018); Equity Library Theatre Showcase (2017); Ashland New Plays Festival (2015, 2016); Eudora Welty New Play Award (2008, 2010, 2012); Charles M. Getchell New Play Award (2012); Mississippi Arts Commission Playwriting Fellow (2010-2011).

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