The Rumpus

The Latest

The First Book: Del Sandeen

I’m writing to the reader who loves characters as much as plot, and who understands that horror encompasses much more than just things that go bump in the night.

Preparing for Flight: Yaccaira Salvatierra’s Sons of Salt

Salvatierra’s poems embody the spirit of reclamation, reminding us to ask the wind and water to carry us, to remember our potential for flight.

Interviews

The Truth About Phantom Characters: A Conversation with Cal Louise Phoenix

… if my people can survive, I can too. Resiliency and survivalism are in my bones.

Letter to My Dad

I wonder if the adoption agency thought they were clever, or if they thought both adoptive parents and adoptee having brown hair was enough to signal we belonged to each other.

Essays

Empty Houses Ring

emerging into one junk-filled yard where every space is laden with boards and tires and tubes and appliances and a van undriveable loaded like a mind in tatters . . .

Voices on Addiction

Voices on Addiction: Harm Reduction

If I could describe this point in my life in the simplest terms possible, I would say this: it was not sustainable.

Reviews

“ew, don’t use my sound ever again”: On Tyranny and Poupeh Missaghi’s Sound Museum

Power is the end in itself, not a means to justice.

Interviews

It Seemed Important for Me to Figure It Out: An Interview with Ruben Quesada

I wanted to address all the things that I was witness to or that may have informed my understanding of loss.

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Featured

Comics

Changes

Town Mouse, Glamping Mouse

Life in Motion

more comics

Essays

As Ever, Your Totem

Spinning Webs in Space

Body All the Way Down

more Essays

Letters in the Mail from Authors!

Receive letters with creative prompts from some of our favorite authors written just for Rumpus readers and sent straight into your (snail) mailbox 2 x a month!

Fiction

Rumpus Original Fiction: Boy Moms

Rumpus Original Fiction: orange is thirsty

Rumpus Original Fiction: The Familiar Phantom

More Fiction

What to Read When

What to Read When You Want to be Stirred

What to Read When You Want to Get Lost

What to Read When You Need The Help of Mystical Forces to Combat Human Failure

More Lists

Poetry

A Search for Country and Identity in Ayokunle Falomo’s Autobiomythography Of

Rumpus Original Poetry: Four Poems by juj e lepe

Slant Panes of Light: Emilie Menzel’s The Girl Who Became a Rabbit

More Poetry

Columns

“Simply tell the story”: A VOA Mini-interview with Nikkya Hargrove

ENOUGH: Ulcers Like Men’s Eyes

We Are More: Three Poems by Marlin M. Jenkins

More Columns

Reviews

“A Game of Chance You Can Choose to Play or Not”: On Lauren Russell’s A Window That Can Neither Open nor Close

Please Please Please: Casey McQuiston’s The Pairing

I Like Books About Books: A Review of Shannon Reed’s Why We Read

More Reviews

Interviews

“We are so often strangers to ourselves”: A Conversation with Jordan Windholz

The First Book: K.E. Semmel

Chasing the Afterlife: A Conversation with Susan L. Leary

More Interviews

Even more Rumpus

Become a Member!

Become a MONTHLY or ANNUAL RUMPUS MEMBER and receive exclusive content, editorial insights, merch discounts, and more! Annual Members also receive access to submit their work year-round outside of our regular no-fee reading periods. Be a part of building a better Rumpus!

Join today!

Letters in the mail (from authors)

Receive letters from some of our favorite authors written just for Rumpus readers and sent straight into your (snail) mailbox 2x a month!

The Writer’s Welcome kit

A self-paced 5-week course to establish your regular writing practice for writers at the beginning of their journeys.

Take the class!