Benjamin Schaefer is a writer and editor from upstate New York. He studied literature and creative writing at Bard College and at the MFA program at the University of Arizona, where he taught as an instructor in the UA Writing Program and Department of English. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The Best American Nonrequired Reading, Electric Literature, Guernica, Literary Hub, Poets & Writers, and The Southern Review, and have been recommended or featured by Bookforum, Lit Hub Weekly, Poets & Writers Daily News, and The Rumpus. He is the recipient of fellowships and grants from the Elizabeth George Foundation, MacDowell, Millay Arts, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
For eight years, Benjamin served as editorial staff for the literary journal Fairy Tale Review, first as an associate editor in 2015 and then as the senior prose editor from 2016 until 2022. In 2022, he was promoted to Editor for the journal’s queer-themed issue, The Rainbow Issue, which was a finalist for the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBTQ+ Anthology. Stories Benjamin edited for Fairy Tale Review have been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories, The Best Small Fictions, and Best Microfiction, selected as finalists for the Shirley Jackson Award, and honored as “Notable Stories” by The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy series.
