| This Week from The Rumpus |
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[Publisher's note 1 month after Helene: Asheville, NC]
Thank you to the 32 people and the good folks at Bookshop.org who donated a total of $3,192 and the 20 people who joined us a Members since I first shared our experience with Hurricane Helene. 4 people on The Rumpus team live in Asheville, NC---including myself, the Publisher/person who makes sure the magazine can pay its bills. If you missed last week's note, not much has changed. We still don't have drinking water and there's a long recovery ahead. My partner and I still haven't received financial support from FEMA, the SBA remains out of funds, and our insurance is still under review. This week, I helped clean our neighborhood creek (only 3 tires!), hosted volunteers from Louisiana at my home, and will be sharing my space with displaced folks for months to come.
We have $21,808 to go to reach our end of year funding goal. It's unclear if we'll get there, but thank you to the supporters who are giving us HOPE! I'm likely going to keep these updates brief now through the end of the year, mostly because I'm very very tired. However, for the sake of transparency, I do want to share any progress we make now through Dec. 31. If you're able, please show your support by donating, becoming a member, and/or sharing with someone who can help. We've had a lot of "thoughts and prayers" types of responses. While words of empathy are appreciated, action is what will truly help us get through this. If you're wondering how you can help, donations or membership are truly the most helpful (see the two buttons below). If you're connected to a press or other lit adjacent organization (writing program, book festival, etc.), will your company donate for a tax deduction or will they place an ad (email ads@therumpus.net)? The support we do (or don't) receive now will determine The Rumpus's future. |
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New Essays & Columns
Rumpus Original Essay: "A Lot of Other Women" by Jasmin Sandelson
“Just a handful of us have had a period, a first kiss. But we stay silent, quivering with the power to make a grown man blush and brush chalk dust from his tweed.”
Rumpus Original Column Voices on Addiction: "Badfish, Don’t Bother Me" by Lizz Dawson
“My heart slid from its nestled spot between my ribs, sinking, sinking, sinking into the writhing pit of my stomach...”
Rumpus Original Poetry: Three Poems by Iqra Khan
“Once, my mother caught wild rabbit. / I licked its bones clean. It was sweet / and tender. I slept through the massacre, / nourished and full of innocence.”
Rumpus Original Column Close Reads: Nandini Bhattacharya Close Reads Porochista Khakpour’s Sons and Other Flammable Objects
“Khakpour achieves a superb effect of delineating the immigrant experience, of which so many trials, triumphs, and tests depend on the prevarications of language...“ |
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Interviews & Reviews
Junious Ward interviews Christian J. Collier about Greater Ghost
“I want the work to sing on the page and, if someone were to read it aloud, sing as it exists in the air.”
Erin Vachon reviews Lauren Russell’s A Window That Can Neither Open nor Close
“Russell’s collection is a fire axe against ableism, white supremacy, and defunct medical systems.”
Lauren C. Johnson interviews Jordan Windholz about The Sisters
“There is only so much you can tell your children about the reality of the world. So, to navigate that necessary withholding, we tell stories.” |
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| Available Now:
NEW TRAVEL MUGS! |
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 | | The NEW "Write Like a Motherfucker" travel tumbler is elegant and classy AF! This is your new grownup high quality 16 ounce insulated MiiR brand to-go mug. MiiR is a certified B-Corp, and we're basically selling these at cost. This tumbler handles hot and cold beverages equally well. It fits great in a cup holder and in your hand. Black powder coated with Rumpus red etching. It's the classic design by Walter Green. “Write Like a Motherfucker” is a quote from one of the most famous Dear Sugar columns by Cheryl Strayed.
*Annual Rumpus Members, a reminder to log into your store account, if you'd like to pre-order at a 20% discount. |
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| Partner announcement and special offer (discount ends Friday, Nov. 1!) to Rumpus readers: |
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 | Join the Accountability Workshops led by Annie Hartnett (author of novels Rabbit Cake and Unlikely Animals) and Tessa Fontaine (former Rumpus columnist and author of the memoir The Electric Woman and the novel The Red Grove).
What you get:
Multi-faceted support. In addition to the bi-weekly meetings, Annie and Tessa provide . . . - One-on-one coaching anytime you need it, and help you craft a personalized writing contract.
- Connections and insights from the larger literary community with monthly guest speakers for inspiration (guests include: Steve Almond, Weike Wang, Bonnie Jo Campbell, Jonathan Escoffery, Marie-Helene Bertino, Hannah Pittard, Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, agents, publicists, and more!
- Access to a Slack channel for staying in touch with your cohort and the larger community
- Zoom writing sessions
- Occasional real-life meetups! Members live all over the globe.
If you’ve always wanted a writing community or a writing coach, you’ll get BOTH!
The cost is $150/month, month-to-month commitment. Cancel anytime. Meetings are on Zoom, every other week: Mondays 1-2:30 pm ET, Wednesdays 1 -2:30 pm ET, and Wednesdays 8-9:30 pm ET.
And, as promised, there's a SPECIAL OFFER for Rumpus readers! Receive $25 off your first month with the code RUMPUS25.
To JOIN:
→ Sign up here, and start by creating an account.
→ Then, enter the discount code RUMPUS25 on the payment page for $25 off your first month.
**Special offer ends Nov. 1, 2024. Sign up now for the 1st month discount. Please note that The Rumpus isn't running these Accountability Workshops. All questions and any logistical support, should be directed to Annie and Tessa. |
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| Letters in the Mail (from authors!) |
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Letters in the Mail from authors is a Rumpus subscription in which you receive an actual, postmarked letter from one of our favorite writers in your IRL mailbox twice a month. All letters are non-promotional, include a creative prompt, and have a return mailing address in case you'd like to write the author back!
Up next, an author letter from . . .
October 15: Richard Scott Larson is the author of The Long Hallway, a debut memoir recently published by the University of Wisconsin Press. He has received fellowships from MacDowell and the New York Foundation for the Arts, and his creative and critical work has appeared in the Sun, Los Angeles Review of Books, Harvard Review, and elsewhere, and has also been recognized twice by The Best American Essays. He lives in Brooklyn. Subscribe by October 31! |
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Sponsor Note: Fall NC Writer's Conference relocated to Greensboro, NC on Nov. 2 due to catastrophic flooding in Asheville, NC caused by Hurricane Helene. Registration open through Oct. 28. |
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 | | The Press Pause Press Beautiful Pause Prize reopens for full-length poetry manuscripts on November 15, 2024. Please send us whatever is in your hearts. Guidelines can be found on our website. Submissions will be accepted through Submittable through May 1, 2025. We can't wait to read your poems. |
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Reader Support Keeps The Rumpus Going! |
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Founded in 2009 in San Francisco, CA and now based in Asheville, NC with readers and editors all over the US and abroad, The Rumpusis one of the longest-running independent online literary and culture magazines. Our mostly volunteer-run magazine strives to be a platform for risk-taking voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere. We lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers readers already know and love. Often, we are an emerging writer's first notable publication, which is something we’re really proud of. We believe that literature builds community—and if reading The Rumpus makes you feel more connected, please show your support! Our Membership and subscription programs along with tax-deductible donations made to The Rumpus through our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas, help keep us going and brings us closer to sustainability.
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