| This Week from The Rumpus |
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| Interviews with Irvin Weathersby Jr. and Erika Swyler by Sonya Lea and Stephanie Feldman Review of Paul Rousseau’s Friendly Fire by Noah Hale New Essays, Fiction, and Comics by Amy Cipolla Barnes, Cesar E. Cisneros, and Michelle and Tristan Liu Karissa Chen for The First Book, and Ben Nadler for Collaborative Criticism The Rumpus PRIZE, calls for submission, Letters in the Mail from Authors (Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum) Thank you to this week's promotional partners Bay Path University and Georgia Review |
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Interviews & Reviews
“I felt my grandmother’s hand. I felt my ancestors. I felt so many people. I was trying to allow myself to be used as a vehicle, to testify.”
Sonya Lea interviews Irvin Weathersby Jr. about In Open Contempt: Confronting White Supremacy in Art and Public Space.
“A snapshot of a larger, nationwide kind of negligence implicating American masculinity and corporate irresponsibility.”
Noah Hale reviews Paul Rousseau’s fractured memoir Friendly Fire.
“There’s a sense of comfort in knowing if something happens, someone is watching. The rub is always who is watching and to what end.”
Stephanie Feldman interviews Erika Swyler about her third novel We Lived on Horizon.
“What set this book apart is that I cared enough about it to really see it through.”
Karissa Chen discusses the publication of her novel Homeseeking for The Rumpus original column The First Book. |
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New Essays & Columns
“When she turned fifty, Darla chose a bucket uterus for herself. A plastic one. Her barren neighbor, Eloise, needed a replacement, so Darla donated hers. It was as simple as that.”
Rumpus Original Fiction: “Organ Donor” by Amy Cipolla Barnes
“Li-chera-chura, my mouth, a junk car with a messed-up starter, phonetically stumbling to create the rapid delivery and smooth rolling, characteristic of Spanish. The class erupted in laughter.”
Rumpus Original Essay: “An Imprecise Translation” by Cesar E. Cisneros
“It always felt like an adventure with my grandparents—hearing and understanding the dramas of the Cultural Revolution, the dissolution and rebuilding of their lives.”
Rumpus Original Comic: “The Forever Park” by Michelle and Tristan Liu
“And yet the anxiety persists: the hammering reverberates, perhaps loudest, in new writers seeking their place in the world of storytelling.”
Rumpus Original Column Collaborative Criticism: “Nothing New Under the Sun: The Russian Formalists’ Guide to Prose Craft” by Ben Nadler
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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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| 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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| Click the image above or this link to learn more about Georgia Review's Prose Prize. |
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| Click the image above or this link to learn more about Bay Path University's MFA in Creative Nonfiction. |
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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 . . .
January 15: Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum is the author of the novel Elita (Northwestern University Press/TriQuarterly, January 2025) and three collections of short fiction. Her most recent collection, What We Do with the Wreckage, won the 2017 Flannery O'Connor Award. She is the recipient of a PEN/O. Henry Prize and fellowships from Sewanee, MacDowell, and the Jack Straw Writers Program. Her short stories have appeared in The Sun, Conjunctions, McSweeney's, Ploughshares, Prairie Schooner, One Story, and other journals. She teaches 7th grade English in Seattle, where she lives with her family.
Subscribe by January 14! |
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| We are open for our Enough column from Jan. 3-Feb. 7.
ENOUGH is a Rumpus series devoted to creating a dedicated space for work by women and non-binary people who engage with rape culture, sexual assault, and domestic violence. We want to make sure that this conversation doesn’t stop until our laws and societal norms reflect real change. We consider personal essays, critical essays, poetry, comics, and hybrid work.
Submissions for our inaugural Rumpus Prize for Poetry, Fiction, and Creative Nonfiction are open until March 2, 2025. Judged by Kaveh Akbar (poetry), Rachel Khong (fiction), and Megan Stielstra (nonfiction).
Two new columns, Collaborative Criticism and Close Reads are now open year-round!
We are open for Funny Women and Prose and Poetry Book Reviews submissions year-round.
(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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