S.T. Bende

S.T. Bende is an American young adult and children's book author. Before becoming an official author of Star Wars books, Bende was a major fan of the franchise. She first discovered the prequel and original trilogy films as an adult and began to participate in the fan community.

Bende's first official Star Wars credit came with the release of The Prequel Trilogy Stories, an anthology of illustrated short stories retelling the events of the prequel trilogy. Michael Siglain, creative director of Lucasfilm publishing, announced Bende's involvement with the title on May 31, 2017. The title was published by Disney–Lucasfilm Press on September 26 of the same year. An unabridged audiobook adaptation of the book was published on March 19, 2019 and includes Bende's stories.

Two short stories by Bende were published in the anthology, each paired with art by illustrator Brian Rood. The first story, "The Path of a Podracer," adapts events from the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, focusing mainly on the Boonta Eve Classic podrace. Of all the Star Wars content she has written, Bende considers "The Path of the Podracer" to be her favorite. When she first saw the Star Wars films, the podracing sequences in The Phantom Menace particularly left an impression on Bende, and so she considered the opportunity to write about podracing to be "a thrill." Bende's second story, "Driven to the Dark Side," adapts events from the 2005 film Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. The story depicts the Jedi Anakin Skywalker's turn to the dark side of the Force.

On August 17, 2017, Bende announced her involvement in 5-Minute Star Wars Stories Strike Back, the second wide release in the 5-Minute Star Wars Stories series of storybooks. The two short stories Bende wrote for the book were designed to be read to young children in a short span of time, usually before bed. The title was published on December 15, 2017. On October 5, 2022, Bende's short stories from 5-Minute Star Wars Stories Strike Back were adapted in a German audiobook, 5-Minute Star Wars Stories 2.

Bende's first short story, "Adventure in the Arena," adapts events from the 2002 film Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones. Bende's second contribution to the book, "Mission to Maz," adapts events from the 2015 film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. While "Mission to Maz" saw widespread publication in 5-Minute Star Wars Stories Strike Back, it was first published in 5-Minute Star Wars Villain Stories, a limited-release title published in September 2017 that was exclusively sold in Kohl's department stores. In the book, the short story featured modified art and a different title, "Chaos at the Castle."

Two short stories by Bende were scheduled to be published in the United States by Disney–Lucasfilm Press in 5-Minute Star Wars Stories, a refresh of the 2015 title of the same time, although the book never saw release. The short stories eventually saw publication internationally, starting with an Italian publication on January 20, 2021. Bende's short stories, "Mission to Mos Eisley" and "Attack of the X-Wings," adapt sequences from the films Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope and Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens respectively.

October 2, 2018 saw the release of Galactic Adventures Storybook Collection, an illustrated storybook anthology featuring adaptations of Star Wars comic books from Marvel Comics and junior novels from Disney–Lucasfilm Press. Bende found adapting pre-existing Star Wars comics to be an extremely fun process.

Bende's first Galactic Adventures story, "Size Matters Not," features the Jedi Yoda in an adaptation of the twenty-sixth issue of the 2015 comic series Star Wars by Jason Aaron. The second story written by Bende, "A Jedi's Control," centers on Padawan Anakin Skywalker and adapts the events of the first issue of the 2016 comic miniseries Star Wars: Obi-Wan and Anakin by Charles Soule. Both stories feature art by TomatoFarm. Two unabridged audiobooks featuring Bende's stories, Star Wars Adventure and Star Wars Adventure 2, were released on March 1 and July 26, 2023 respectively.

S.T. Bende is one of several authors who contributed to Star Wars Epic Adventures, a monthly subscription box set with media focused on a particular film in the Star Wars saga that was published in a joint venture between Sandvik Publishing and Disney–Lucasfilm Press. A feature of each monthly box was a deck of Galactic Profiles flashcards providing information on characters, events, and locations from the film of the month. Bende wrote all information provided on the flashcards for every monthly drop of Epic Adventures. Bende also wrote the first book in the Epic Adventures series, adapting the entirety of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace from the perspective of protocol droid C-3PO. The ninety-six-page storybook was released in the first Epic Adventures monthly drop in May 2019.

After just two months, the Epic Adventures series was canceled despite two additional waves of content being printed and ready for release. As such, only Bende's Galactic Profiles cards for The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones were released despite her having completed cards for Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.

Bende's second book in the Epic Adventures series, The Empire Strikes Back, was also canceled alongside the series overall. The book would have featured a full retelling of the 1980 film of the same name from the perspective of C-3PO, much like the other books in the series. Despite it never being released, Bende considers The Empire Strikes Back to be one of her favorite Star Wars projects. When researching for the project, Bende traveled to the shooting location for the Battle of Hoth in Norway, finding her visit to the spot where Imperial walkers marched in the 1980 film to be "a dream come true."

In March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, S.T. Bende started a YouTube video series titled Star Wars Storytime with S.T. Bende in which she reads some of her Star Wars stories aloud. The purpose of the series was to provide children with a read-along outlet during the pandemic.

The first videos in the series featured Bende reading "Mission to Maz" and "Adventure in the Arena" from 5-Minute Star Wars Stories Strike Back. Bende went on to publish four more videos throughout 2020, eventually reading all her stories from The Prequel Trilogy Stories and Galactic Adventures Storybook Collection as well.

In 2021, S.T. Bende authored two books in the Tiny & Mini Books reference book series from publisher Insight Editions. The two titles, Star Wars: The Tiny Book of Jedi and Star Wars: The Tiny Book of Sith, were published on April 27 of the same year. Each of the books features imagery, quotations, and facts about iconic Star Wars characters from the films and television series. Whereas The Tiny Book of Jedi features characters that are members of the Jedi Order or otherwise affiliated with the light side of the Force, The Tiny Book of Sith features the inverse, highlighting members of the Sith Order and other dark side adepts.

When writing The Tiny Book of Jedi, Bende particularly enjoyed including information about the Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn. For The Tiny Book of Sith, Bende included so much information about Maul—one of her favorite characters—that her editor had to ask Bende to rein in the relevant pages.

On February 25, 2022, StarWars.com announced Bende's participation in "Galactic Tales," a series of four short stories published in the Star Wars Insider magazine to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the film Attack of the Clones. Bende wrote "Galactic Tales: The Wesell Run," the first story in the series, focusing on the bounty-hunting duo Zam Wesell and Jango Fett around the time of the Clone Wars. The story was published in the 209th issue of Star Wars Insider on March 15, 2022. Bende found the writing process exciting as some of her favorite Star Wars stories take place in the same time period.

On May 31, 2023, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, a junior novelization of the 2021 animated series of the same name, was published in France. A day later, S.T. Bende confirmed that she was the author of the book. Bende considered writing for the special forces unit Clone Force 99 to be an honor. Bende also wrote "Galactic Tales: Lost in the Woods," a short story set during the timeline of the original trilogy. The story was published in the 221st issue of Star Wars Insider on September 26, 2023. Bende considered writing the story to be an "absolute blast."

On October 15, 2023, at a panel at New York Comic Con, Lucasfilm announced the reference book Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: A Visual Archive, a commemorative book celebrating the 40th anniversary of Return of the Jedi. At the panel, Bende was revealed to be co-author of the title, which ultimately published on April 23, 2024. Shortly after the book was announced, Bende expressed her excitement to be working on the title online.