New Essays & Columns
Rumpus Original Fiction: "The Familiar Phantom" by C. Adán Cabrera
“He smiled: two rows of uneven teeth, three were silver.”
Rumpus Original Column Voices on Addiction: "Second Chances" by Christina VandePol
“Dirk is probably alive only because drugs like fentanyl weren’t around when he was younger. The second, third, and fourth chances he got are rare now.”
Rumpus Original Poetry: Two Poems by Ava Chen
“We play our parts too well / as lines in a barcode of light / on the sand. I wonder / what we are worth: / a lock of donated hair, / our cat curled in the baby’s crib.” |
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| Partner announcement and special offer 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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Interviews & Reviews
Kim Samek interviews author and filmmaker Desiree Akhaven about her memoir-in-essays You're Embarrassing Yourself
“Stories of misfits, stories of humiliation. Humiliation, but funny, in the face of coming-of-age. That period of your life where you’re trying to identify who you are and where you belong.”
Claire Davidson interviews Olivia Gatwood about Whoever You Are, Honey
“I write about technology in part because I don’t love it, and I want to process that. I want to process how it changes my human experience.”
Acree Graham Macam reviews Bret Anthony Johnston's We Burn Daylight
“'To burn daylight' means to waste time—but on what? On love? On fiction? On something other than violence and domination?” |
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| What to Read When You Need the Help of Mystical Forces to Combat Human Failure |
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 | | "The books I read during the time I was writing this book range from memoir to guidebook to reference book. They talk about harms the authors have faced, they teach tarot, they bestow wisdom and honesty. It takes a whole library to make a book, and these books are just a fraction of what helped create my memoir, but each was deeply important to the process." —Alex DiFrancesco, What to Read When You Need the Help of Mystical Forces to Combat Human Failure |
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| And in November . . .
Rumpus Senior Essays Editor, Alysia Li Ying Sawchynand Publisher, Alyson Sinclair will be attending |
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| Did you miss September's Show Us Your Desk with Olivia Wolfgang-Smith? Watch now! |
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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 1: Aggeliki Pelekidis was born in Brooklyn to Greek parents. She was a public relations executive in NYC for a decade, including working as the Director of Public Affairs for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Manager of Marketing Communications for the New York Aquarium. She earned her MA and Ph.D in English with a creative writing emphasis from Binghamton University. Her dissertation, a short-story collection titled Patrimonium, won the Distinguished Dissertation Award in Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in the Michigan Quarterly Review, North Dakota Quarterly, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Confrontation, the Masters Review, and many other journals. She’s currently the Associate Director of First-Year Writing at Binghamton University. Her debut novel, Unlucky Mel, published on 9/15/24 by Cornell University Press’s Three Hills Imprint. Subscribe by September 30! |
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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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| Do you want to establish a regular writing routine? |
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We recently launched a new Rumpus offering: The Writer's Welcome Kit, a 5-week asynchronous online course to establish your regular writing practice. This course was created by author and writing coach Paulette Perhach specifically for writers who are looking for a starting point as they begin to practice their craft in an intentional way. *Perhach's book, Welcome to the Writer's Life, was published in 2018 by Sasquatch Books / Penguin Random House and was selected as one of Poets & Writers' Best Books for Writers.
If you're a beginning writer in any genre who would like guidance on establishing a dedicated writing practice OR any writer who wants to commit to an intentional routine, this course was built for you.
Ready to start? |
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| Submissions for Comics are open August 1 until October 31.
Opening SOON: Essays submissions will open again on Oct. 1-31.
Two new columns, Collaborative Criticism and Close Reads are now open year-round!
Our new column Parallel Practice is open again for submissions. Read the call here before submitting.
We are open for Funny Women and Prose and Poetry Book Reviews submissions year-round.
Submissions for Poetry opened on Aug. 15 and closed on Aug. 19th, since we hit our 500 submissions limit in just four days.
(Reminder, annual Rumpus Members can submit their work in any genre all year long.) |
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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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