This is cool: The Handsome Family in the New Yorker.

Allison Amend’s A Nearly Perfect Copy is called “delectable” by Alan Cheuse on NPR.

Caroline Leavitt does the TNB Self-Interview.

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So look: Chicago isn’t always The Place To Be in terms of literary events (although wow, it’s really getting there, in part due to the dynamic super-duo of Victor David Giron and Jacob Knabb of Curbside Splendor, who singlehandedly seem to be responsible for, like, half the book-music events in the city), but this week the City of Big Shoulders is exploding with literary talent.

Today we have an interview with Emily Rapp. Here, too, for Mother’s Day, is Emily’s “This Mother’s Day, I Am No Longer a Mother.”

Congrats to one of the most generous writers I know, Caroline Leavitt, whose novel Is This Tomorrow came out Tuesday.

So I’m not sure anyone can dispute the fact that there’s no money in book review sections…if that were a genuine argument to be made, basically every book review section in every major paper but the New York Times wouldn’t have shut down.

This Part Is About Me and My Friends So If You Don’t Give a Shit Scroll Down…

So I was in Los Angeles for the Festival of Books. When I left Chicago, it was raining in this manic, endless way that had caused the sewers to back up and the streets to flood.

As a mother of two adopted kids myself, I found Jennifer Gilmore’s HuffPo piece on whether “mothering” differs from “parenting” interesting. Mainly, this piece seems merely a jumping-off point. Biological motherhood is a fetishized thing in our culture. When I got pregnant with my third child, people shouted things like, “Thank God!” as though I didn’t already have 2 children.

Grub Street’s Christopher Castellani’s All This Talk of Love receives a glowing one from the NYTimes.

How friendship forms writers: Emily Rapp’s “How I Became the Woman I Am Today.”

Josh Mohr is one of our best, and this HTML interview is perhaps his most candid.

The Weeklings is on fire:

Zoe Zolbrod, with one of the most nuanced and psychologically complex analysises I’ve seen of those horrifying VIDA stats about women and publishing.

Katie Arnoldi and Greg Olear with a five-part series on pot, human trafficking, border patrol and immigration, that is simply a must-read.

Best weird girl lit for outsider teens, from the Guardian. Which probably means this is a mandatory reading list for Normal Girls too, and for any teen with a penis, since understanding Weird Girls is kind of a prerequisite to…everything.

Brooklyn Based offers Three Reading Lists from People Who Still Love Books.

The Millions’ interview with literary powerhouse Elissa Schappell.

It may not pay your mortgage, but in this day of shrinking paying markets, Barrelhouse‘s announcement that it will begin offering $50 for work, while its staff still works for free, is worth noting.

Who gets $20K a pop? HuffPo clues us in to authors’ outrageous speaking fees.

The links between vegetarianism and oral sex? Body image and sex drive? OKCupid has that graphed.

Chloe Caldwell on learning to sit still and deal with herself, post-heroin.

I woke Friday morning to the news that Emily Rapp’s son, Ronan Louis, had died. Ronan had Tay-Sachs, but the “expected” nature of a death does nothing to soften a blow when someone is not yet even three-years-old. Emily’s dear friend, yoga teacher and writer Jennifer Pastiloff, wrote a piece for Ronan on Facebook that I asked to share with Rumpus readers and that serves as today’s Sunday essay.

In celebration of Valentine’s Day, I give you the most insanely romantic thing I’ve ever read. I want this adorable old Russian couple on my mantle. If I had a mantle, that is.

A love affair between a lonely woman and a tortoise.

Jennifer Egan says that Goon Squad could have been better and talks about the danger of applause, in an excerpt from Why We Write, and anthology featuring some of the most acclaimed writers of our time, including Rumpus regular Rick Moody.

Oh my god: Josip Novakovich is a finalist for The Booker Prize. Josip is a Sunday Rumpus alum, and an Other Voices Books and Dzanc Books author. He’s also on the faculty of Other Voices Queretaro, the ridiculously kick-ass writing program I’m launching out of Mexico this summer.

The National Book Critics Circle Award finalists.

And 2013′s Creative Capital grant winners.

Greg Olear of The Weeklings interviews the great Francine Prose. Wow, between this and my Atwood interview, Greg and I have had a pretty cool week.

The world seems to be zooming towards a beautiful George Saunders tipping point.  Hard to swing a cat without hitting how freaking awesome he is.  Nice to see this in the NYTimes.  And this from Michael Schaub.  And listen to this too.

This is a stunner from Chloe Caldwell: “My Year of Heroin and Acne.”

I’m liking Salon’s “Body Issues” series.  Here’s “Sexy Dresses That Barely Fit” by Lily Burana.

I’m radically perplexed and a little alarmed by this apparent love-fest for “My Little Pony” among…uh…adult men?

Michele Filgate’s Ultimate Book Guide, on Salon, navigates 2012′s best by asking writers like Junot Diaz, Carol Anshaw, Jami Attenberg and 47 others to talk about their favorite books this year.  Don’t miss this one.

In a similar vein, the edgier crew at LitReactor give their faves of the year.

Lauren Cerand, Penina Roth, Michelle Orange and a host of interesting others make Flavorwire’s “50 Up-and-Coming New York Culture Makers.”

Speaking of up-and-coming, the always-provocative Laura Bogart’s “The Curse of My Birthing Hips,” in Salon’s Body Issues series.

Emily Rapp and The Rumpus top HuffPo’s “required reading” list for women.  Apparently our new tagline is: The Rumpus.  Killin’ it for the ladies since 2009.

Don’t get too cheerful with all this Rumpus-love and post-election relief.  Republicans basically dissed the wheelchair-bound Bob Dole last week, refusing to back the UN Disabilities Treaty.

Emily Rapp is back in the house, people.  If you, like a lot of people, can’t get enough of Emily, see her recent “Obnoxious Questions People Ask Me About Writing About My Dying Son.”

Just in time for the holidays: Lydia Netzer on “A Writer’s Wish List.”

Simon & Schuster opens a self-publishing service.

The Rumpus reviewed and Stephen, Isaac, Julie and Paul profiled on The Bold Italic.

Congrats to editor Elizabeth Collins and TNB Books: The Beautiful Anthology is included in the New York Times’ “Best Bathroom Books of 2012.”  Leah Odze Epstein and Caren Osten Gerszberg’s Drinking Diaries anthology is also included on this quirky, fun list.

The phenomenal Kathie Bergquist (perhaps the coolest person I can call “my former student”) is launching Ms. Fit, a “web ‘zine dedicated to health, fitness, and wellness from a body-positive, LGBT-friendly feminist perspective.”  Look, if you know me, you know I’m not the target audience for a fitness magazine, no matter how rad it is.

This week’s Sunday essay is from Susan Straight.  Here’s Susan talking to Brad Listi at Other People.  Tod Goldberg is interviewing her for the Rumpus soon.

Something about this election is giving everyone PTSD flashbacks of Ayn Rand.  Here’s Steve Almond’s Election Literary Smackdown pitting Rand against Steinbeck.