Leigh Buchanan Bienen, wife of University President Henry Bienen, has stepped from the world of law into the world of fiction with the recent publication of her book “The Left-Handed Marriage.”
Bienen, a senior lecturer at the Law School, has been publishing short stories in literary magazines since the 1980s. But her husband said he prodded his wife to publish her book.
“I really pestered her to get the book out,” he said. “I said, ‘Look, you’ve got all these stories. Get them out.'”
The result is “The Left-Handed Marriage,” Bienen’s first work of fiction. It comprises a novella and 10 short stories, some of which never have been published, and a short novel. The book’s title comes from one of the work’s stories. “The Left-Handed Marriage” is the tale of a woman who suggests her husband take another wife.
Henry Bienen said he is pleased with his wife’s finished product, although he wished she had picked another title.
“There were a couple of stories that never got published, which I’m just as glad, I must say,” he laughed. “Nor do I love this title. You learn to live with a lot when you live with a fiction writer.”
Part of the title story takes place in Africa, and Bienen said many of her tales play out across the globe.
Leigh Bienen worked as a journalist in Africa while her husband wrote his Ph.D. dissertation and taught at various universities. In the ’70s and ’80s, the Bienens spent 18 months in Kenya, two years in Uganda and a year in Nigeria. Leigh Bienen characterizes Africa as “an interesting and challenging place to live.”
She said she finds inspiration for some of her stories in individuals’ lives that she has observed while overseas — knowledge that she calls the “meat of fiction.”
She described the stories involving foreign locals as “meditation” on different cultures and the experience of living in different societies.
Bienen previously has published short fiction works in literary journals such as The Mississippi Review and Ontario Review. Her other book, “Crimes of the Century,” was co-authored by Gilbert Geis and analyzes five high-profile court cases, including the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and the O.J. Simpson trial.
Bienen said she intends to keep writing as she continues to teach, and already has begun working on a novel. “I am a lawyer and a writer both,” she said. “Nobody in their right mind would ever write fiction if they didn’t enjoy doing it.”
At a reading of her book Oct. 9 at Norris University Center, Bienen said that although making the transition from law to fiction writing is not always easy, she feels the different forms of writing enrich each other.
“Fiction is a place where I can say things I can’t say anywhere else,” she said.
On Thursday Bienen is scheduled to give a reading at Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City, the location of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she earned her master’s degree. Although President Bienen could not attend his wife’s NU reading, he will accompany her to Iowa City, where they were married more than 35 years ago.
