| This Week from The Rumpus |
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Publisher Update: Help Us Reach Our $25K End-of-Year Fundraising Goal by Dec. 31!
We want to express our gratitude to the 195 generous donors who have contributed to The Rumpus end-of-year fundraiser. Thanks to you, we’ve raised $17,952—72% of our $25K goal—with just $7,047 remaining to fill our 2024 funding gap by December 31. Your support means everything to us!
If you haven't already given can you help us now, so The Rumpus can continue publishing original work 5 days a week in 2025 and (hopefully) beyond?
For those of you who have asked, if you're not concerned with the tax deduction (or are donating from outside the U.S.), you can make a contribution directly via PayPal, which has a much lower processing fee compared to our fiscal sponsor. For example, PayPal takes just 75 cents on a $25 donation, while our fiscal sponsor takes $2.17.
We are incredibly grateful for your continued support during a very tough year.
With appreciation, Alyson Sinclair
Publisher, The Rumpus |
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New Essays & Columns
Rumpus Original Fiction: "Nocturnal" by Natalia Theodoridou
“She looks just like your mother, except she’s taller and there is no love for you on her face. There is, however, an urgency. And, urgently, she tells you stories.”
Rumpus Original Essay: "On Vulnerability" by Jack Ramsey
“That point where your sadness boils over, and you feel hot in your face for a second and your composure cracks and the wells of tears overflow and leak out from behind your eyelids.”
Rumpus Original Poetry: Two Poems by P. Scott Cunningham
“When one of our daughters says they hate something / we tell them, Don’t yuck someone else’s yum / a concept I believe in theory but not in practice. / I love to yuck a yum, if it can be done safely / and in communion with someone I love.”
Rumpus Original Comic: "Motorcycle Wife" by Polly Lou Adams
“None of the archetypes for ladies in Biker World seem to fit me. But I'm starting to realize I've been comfortably living there already...”
Rumpus Original Column We Are More: Two Poems by Nur Turkmani
“How did we begin to cry? / It was when you rubbed my shoulders. / You said it would be fine. I think that was it— / the word fine. It was blunt as a knife.” |
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Interviews & Reviews
Valerie Stivers interviews Emmalea Russo about Vivienne
“Maybe the poetry gets birthed from that back-and-forth, those two worlds merging and diverging.”
Valerie Stivers reviews Jerald Walker’s Magically Black
“A brilliant and necessary addition to the canon on race in America.”
Carl Lavigne interviews Delilah McCrea about The Book of Flowers
“To me, so much of poetry’s power comes from its capacity to surprise.” |
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| RUMPUS PRIZE for
Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction! |
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Announcing the inaugural Rumpus Prize for Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction!
Submissions are open December 5, 2024 to March 2, 2025. The Rumpus has a long history of championing emerging and established poets, fiction writers, and essayists, and we’re pleased to announce a new way the magazine will bring attention to great writing.
All submissions will be read by The Rumpus‘s editorial team, and our final judges will be Kaveh Akbar (Poetry), Rachel Khong (Fiction), and Megan Stielstra (Creative Nonfiction).
The Rumpus Prize offers $3,600 total in prizes, with $1,000 awarded for 1st place prize and publication in 3 genres: poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Honorable mentions receive $200 and publication in each of the 3 genres.
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| Show Us Your Desk with Manuel Betancourt
Dec. 10 @ 6 pm PT / 3 pm ET |
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Tune in Tuesday, Dec. 10 at 6pm ET / 3pm PT on Instagram LIVE for the latest installment of Show Us Your Desk! Greg Mania's next desk belongs to Manuel Betancourt, author of Hello Stranger (Catapult). See you there! |
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| Help us break up with X (Twitter) |
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| It's them, not us. We just think it's time to go our separate ways. We're growing in different directions. We think it's time we lived our life on our own. You get it. If you get your Rumpus updates from X, consider following us elsewhere as we're currently phasing out the account. It's painful to give up 100,000+ followers, but how many of those are actually active, real life humans? If you're a human, follow us on: |
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| Available Now:
NEW TRAVEL MUGS!
*All merch orders should be placed by Dec. 17 to ensure delivery by X-Mas.
Psst . . . you can gift a Membership or Letters in the Mail subscription anytime |
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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 for 20% discount on all mugs and posters! |
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| Our ceramic mug
NOW SHIPPING WORLDWIDE! |
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| Sometimes our international friends ask how they can order our classic "Write Like a Motherfucker" ceramic mug. Well, we now have an option for you to get them through Bonfire. Get one for yourself or your best overseas bud. Also available to US folks, of course! |
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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 . . .
December 15: Katerina Jeng (they/she) is an author, speaker, and creative coach. They are here to help guide humanity into a new paradigm world through humble service that is abundantly joyful, pleasurable, and free. Katerina’s writing explores love and power, and is inspired by their identity as a queer, neurodivergent, Filipina-Taiwanese-American femme. Their debut poetry collection, Gospel of a Whole Sun (Andrews McMeel, 2024), chronicles their journey of self-discovery over the course of three pivotal years, and is a poignant look at the relationship of art-making to personal & collective liberation.
Katerina’s work has been celebrated in People, PBS, CBS News, HuffPost, and Talks at Google. They were the 2023 Writing in Color Fellow at Lighthouse Writers Workshop. Born and raised in New York, Katerina holds degrees in English and music from Cornell University. You can follow their creative pursuits on Instagram (@katerinajeng) and Substack (katerinajeng.substack.com). Subscribe by December 14! |
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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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