My first book, She Was Wild Grass, will be published by Brink Books September 8th, 2026
She Was Wild Grass intertwines Bennett’s artistic coming-of-age with the story of Joan Vollmer, the remarkable yet overlooked figure of the Beat Generation whose life was cut short when her husband, William S. Burroughs, shot her in 1951. Braiding past and present, Bennett explores art, ambition, gender, and freedom, asking what it means to create in a world where women’s stories are so often silenced and forgotten. All preorders come with a zine I made, Notes on Grass. Part field journal, part correspondence, Notes on Grass is a behind-the-scenes companion to the book. Limited edition, available only with preorders.
Advance praise:
"Brilliant. . . I gulped this book down. It’s so dense with narrative, and it goes down like spring water. I couldn’t stop reading it. It’s terrifying and thrilling.”
—Sarah Manguso, author of Liars
"Katie Bennett’s search for Joan Vollmer is also a search for herself and her own place in the world. She Was Wild Grass is a powerful homage not just to Vollmer but to all those whose spirits and lives have been left out of the canon or otherwise neglected, excised. The book is candid and always compelling. I could not put it down."
—Chris Kraus, author of The Four Spent the Day Together