FUNNY WOMEN #100: Writing the Next Great American Woman’s Novel
A lot of women people (as opposed to men people, or just “people”) are upset that Wikipedia editors have created a subcategory for “American Women Novelists.” But I’m not.
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Posts by: Elissa Bassist
The Riveter: Read and Submit!
Joining PDXX Collective and Vela, there’s another new online magazine offering “riveting storytelling by women.” It’s cleverly called The Riveter.
Kaylen Ralph and Joanna Demkiewicz, a.k.a. “The Rosies,” created The Riveter to celebrate ”the diversity of the female experience by publishing original longform and narrative pieces by women.” As two female twentysomething journalism students, Kaylen and Joanna ”needed to create a space where [they] could exist.” Preach.
...morePDXX Collective: Read and Submit!
There’s a new website for women writers. The PDXX Collective is a daily dosage of literary feminism, exploring how publishing more women writers can provide more social equality between the genders. Fuck yeah!
Mary Breaden began this online writers’ collective with the goal of making a weekly smashup of women writers. Over the next three months, the PDXX writers will be conducting interviews with women writers, publishers, and business owners they admire, including Chloe Caldwell, Lidia Yuknavitch, Chandler O’Leary of Anagram Press, Krista Lyons of Seal Press, and more.
...moreBOMB’s Poetry Smackdown
As part of Lit Crawl NYC, BOMB Magazine presents: Poetry Smackdown this Saturday at 7pm at Dempsey’s Pub (61 2nd Avenue). Twelve poets will compete in a read-off to win the love of the audience and eternal glory. The first 50 people who attend will get a free chapbook of poetry by our contestants.
...moreNotes from Jeanette Winterson’s Reading at McNally Jackson
Jeanette Winterson has the best-named memoir: Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? She spoke about the story behind the title during her reading at McNally Jackson bookstore in NYC:
...moreWhen Jeanette W. was fifteen, she fell in love with another girl and couldn’t hide it.
Link Roundup of F*ed Reproduction Regulations
The last few months have been like a post-apocalyptic dystopian young adult novel re: women’s health.
First there was Nancy Pelosi’s GOP Oversight hearing photo showing five men testifying on women’s health. ”What qualifies me to be an expert on women’s reproductive health?
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Welcome to the Girls’ Club
“We’re secretaries fully versed in Derrida, receptionists who have read Proust in French. This is a land of girls. There are always at least ten of ‘us’ for every one of ‘him.’” –Meghan Daum, “Publishing and Other Near-Death Experiences”
Fuck yeah, Meghan Daum.
Notes from Treasure Island!!!
Author Sara Levine read a few chapters from her novel Treasure Island!!! (a Rumpus Book Club selection) at WORD bookstore in Brooklyn and said wonderfully interesting things during the Q & A with the audience:
On male plots v. female plots:
...moreFUNNY WOMEN #73: How to Write Like a Funny Woman
Recently, I started taking improv classes at Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York (founded by the high priestess of funny, Amy Poehler). During each class exercise, I’d think, “This would help my writing.” I compiled a list of writing lessons I learned from Improv 101:
Write Like a Motherfucker (on Facebook)
Are you trying to write today but feeling distracted/unmotivated/lonely? If so, perfect. We’re taking “Write Like a Motherfucker,” Dear Sugar’s #48 column one step beyond…
...moreFUNNY WOMEN #61: My Imaginary Wet Hot American Summer
Even though I’m Jewish, I never went to summer camp.
My Interview with Susie Bright, Sex-Positive Feminist
Susie Bright, sex-positive feminist, writer, revolutionary, and my first tongue-kiss with a woman recently released her memoir Big Sex Little Death.
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Hold for Laughs
The AFI Directing Workshop for Women has been dedicated to developing the talent of the next generation of film and TV female directors since 1974. Amy French, one of last year’s eight AFI DWW fellows, generated some buzz with her feature from last year, El Súperstar, and continues to bring it with Hold for Laughs, premiering Thursday, June 16th (TONIGHT!) at 7pm at the AFI Mark Goodson Theater in L.A.
...morePoor Yorick Entertainment
Upon finishing Infinite Jest (doing so is like a sacrament, which I say even though I’m Jewish), Chris Ayers created a shining visual memorial/appendage to Infinite Jest. The website Poor Yorick Entertainment is “a visual exploration of the filmography of James O.
...moreUnsolicited Writing Advice You Want
Some advice for writers from our own Elissa Bassist:
[Some of this is stolen. But I won’t tell you what because I want to impress you.]
...moreJennifer Egan Wins Award; Gives Me Advice
Elissa Bassist shares her personal notes after having a conversation with Jennifer Egan:
Rumpus Women on Firedoglake Book Salon
The Rumpus Women, Vol. I contributors have been on tour. We’ve read in bookstores, bars, and family rooms in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Brooklyn, and Denver. The readings have been awe-inspiring: smart, funny, charming, sad, honest, brave.
In case you couldn’t make a reading or live in Iowa, Rumpus Women will be on Firedoglake Book Salon, an online news site that hosts author discussions every Saturday and Sunday.
...moreFunny Women Around the Web: Jenny Hagel
Jenny Hagel, the filmmaker/comdienne who made the Feminist Rapper webseries (see below), released a new short comedy film online this week.
“Tech support” is about a woman who falls in love with the girl on the other end of a long tech support phone call–and what happens when she drops that call.
...moreFunny Women Are on Vacation
Dearest Readers, Contributors, Hopeful Contributors, and Men,
The Funny Women column is going away to the Sugar Shack until 2011.
While you are welcome and encouraged to send submissions to funnywomen AT therumpus.net, please note I’m embarrassingly behind on reading your work and editing upcoming pieces (I have adjusted the submission guidelines to reflect this). I’ll be dedicating the next few weeks to reading every word you’ve sent me. Look forward to a consistently published and polished column next year.
...moreThe Funny Women Interview with Amy Sedaris
“Feeling down? Make a Self-Esteem Shell Collage! Write a poem on a piece of paper about you and the ocean and about how you feel about the ocean and why you are special and of course the ocean and then surround the poem with whatever shells you collected that day so you will always remember it.
The Rumpus Review of The Social Network: Suck It
At the end of The Social Network, a new indie flick that no one has ever heard of, I turned to my friend, and out of every intelligent comment I could have made, I said, “There was so much testosterone in the movie that I feel fucked six ways sideways.”
Lorrie Moore at The New Yorker Festival
Notes I took on what Lorrie Moore said while in conversation with Deborah Treisman, The New Yorker‘s fiction editor, that I felt selfish keeping to myself:
How to become a writer:
-You can’t carve solitude out of loneliness–you need people to get away from them.
Elissa Bassist Recounts The Rumpus
In “VIDA Counts The Rumpus” two female writers from VIDA: Women in Literary Arts “crunch the numbers and let us know how The Rumpus is doing in the gender disparity department.” The verdict: we’re kinda sexist, but not as sexist as most places; that’s what the numbers say at least.
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