Linda M. Bendorf (M.A.T., J.D., The University of Iowa) is an award-winning instructor and writing coach who has inspired both novice and seasoned writers in the Iowa Summer Writing Festival for more than two decades. Linda’s essays, features, and poetry have appeared in the Chicago Tribune Media Group’s Triblocal, The University of Iowa’s The Daily Palette, USA Today, Gannett News Service Wire, Des Moines Register, Instructor, The Iowan, and Gather Magazine. Linda is also director of Blue Sage Writing (www.bluesagewriting.com), which offers workshops, one-on-one coaching, and private writing retreats. In 2018, Linda and artist/author E.M. Sloan will lead a weeklong workshop (“Your Legacy as Memoir...The Essence of a Life”) in Boulder, Colorado. Linda and her husband, Carl, live on Colorado’s Front Range where they hike, bird, bike and marvel at the ever-changing sunsets over the Rockies.