This Week from The Rumpus
  • New Interviews with Lucy Rose and Robert Ostrom by Sky Davis and Diane Gottlieb.
  • New Review of Sophia Terazawa's Tetra Nova by Erin Vachon.
  • Bianca Rae Messinger for April 1st Letters in the Mail (from authors!) 
  • New Rumpus original column ENOUGH by Gail Mackenzie-Smith
  • What to Read When You're Freaked Out About Hurricanes by Emma Pattee
  • Two new original Poems by Logan Fry
  • New Rumpus 📚 > 🤖 BOOKS OVER BOTS tote bags in collaboration with Pilsen Community Books! Available and shipping now.
  • Thank you to this week's sponsor Reedsy!

Interviews & Reviews
 

“the heritage of horror is in all those really short cautionary tales that are passed down between people.”

Sky Davis interviews Lucy Rose about The Lamb

Tetra Nova celebrates the multitude, proving there’s more room for every voice once you break the mold.”

Erin Vachon reviews Tetra Nova by Sophia Terazawa

“We’re drawn to poetry not because it’s a time capsule, but because to be human has never fundamentally changed.”

Diane Gottlieb interviews Robert Ostrom about The Bear Wrestler
Special Rumpus Discount from Reedsy
Hey friend of The Rumpus! Sign up by clicking the image above or this link to claim your $50 of Reedsy credit for editorial services and other tools for writers.

New Essays & Columns


“I was hired because I 'art direct like a man.' I try not to let this statement dampen my joy

Rumpus Original Column ENOUGH: "A Timeline of Harassment" by Gail Mackenzie-Smith

“What happened to us / In the dark / Happened to us in the light. / Will it forget me? / Was I ever among its notice?

Rumpus Original Poetry: Two Poems by Logan Fry
 
The Rumpus at the
North Carolina Writers' Network Spring Conference
May 2-4 in Asheville, NC
Registration is open now for the Spring 2025 North Carolina Writers' Network conference. Including . . .

A writing class with our Senior Essays Editor, Alysia Sawchyn. Creative Nonfiction Master Class: Between the Lightening and the Lightening Bug on Saturday, May 3 at 9 am.

A workshop to help you Finish What You Started: Putting Gas in the Tank of Your Stalled-Out Draft led by Rumpus contributor Tessa Fontaine on Sunday, May 4 at 9 am.

And a conversation on Finding Your Audience and Building Your Writing Community with Rumpus Publisher
Alyson Sinclair on Sunday, May 4 at 11 am.

What to Read When:
You're Freaking Out About Earthquakes


The following books are the books I read, during the height of my fear, and also during the years I spent writing my novel, Tilt. They are all earthquake books. There will be shaking, I promise you. But they are books that ask big questions, difficult questions. They are asking about human connection, about regret, about why some groups suffer when others buy their way out of suffering, about how we can live through the unbearable and somehow bear it. 

—Emma Pattee, "What to Read When You're Freaking Out About Earthquakes"
Letters in the Mail (from authors!)
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...

April 1: Bianca Rae Messinger is a poet and translator living and working in Buffalo, NY. She is the author of the chapbooks The Love of God (Inpatient Press, 2016) and parallel bars (Center for Book Arts, 2021) and translator of In the Jungle There is Much to DO [comunidad del sur [mauricio gatti], Berlin Biennale, 2020] among others. Subscribe by March 14!
SUBSCRIBE to Letters from Authors
SUBSCRIBE to Letters + Membership!
AVAILABLE NOW!
New Rumpus tote bags in collaboration with Pilsen Community Books!

Introducing brand new Rumpus tote bags made in collaboration with the very fine worker-run bookstore Pilsen Community Books in Chicagothe first totes The Rumpus has made in over a decade!!

Back in October, as those of us in Asheville, NC were still struggling with getting running water back after Hurricane Helene, Pilsen Community Books worker-owner and long-time friend, Mandy Medley, reached out to see if there was a way to help boost The Rumpus from afar

We spend so much time publishing new work that we don’t often have the resources or bandwidth to create new merch, so we came up with the idea of collaborating on a tote and commissioning Asheville-based artist Kyndra Sweep to create the illustrations and lettering for us.

Net proceeds will be split evenly between Pilsen Community Books and The Rumpus. If you’re in the Chicago area, you can purchase totes in-person at the bookstore NOW.

If you’re anywhere else in the US (or it’s too cold to leave the house!) you can order HERE directly through The Rumpus store. Online orders are selling fast! If we run out of our first batch, we'll take backorders and (if demand is high enough, we'll make more in April).

Thank you for supporting human artists, writers, and workers. Books over bots, freethinkers over algorithms forever!


—Alyson Sinclair, Publisher, The Rumpus
 
AVAILABLE NOW!

Calls for Submissions

Open until March 31 for original Comics. Dig into our long history of publishing comics here.

Two new columns, Collaborative Criticism and Close Reads are now open year-round!


We are open for Prose and Poetry Book Reviews submissions year-round.

(Reminder, annual Rumpus Members can submit their work in any genre all year long.)

Our ceramic mug
NOW SHIPPING WORLDWIDE!
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!
Order HERE

Reader Support Keeps The Rumpus Going!

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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