essays
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On Exteriority: David Szalay’s “Flesh”
After a few more one-liners, it becomes clear István is living in pandemic-era England (he vapes now, etc.) and trying to log on to a Zoom meeting with his therapist
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The Rumpus Prize in Nonfiction, First Place: Daniel B. Summerhill
A tight plot of land with poverty gripping the neck of its residents even tighter. The same way America held off on recognizing street gangs as an issue until blood was spilt outside of the hood in 1988 in Westwood…
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When Craft Becomes an Act of Love: An Interview with Gayle Brandeis
I want to be fully present for whatever I’m doing, whether it’s teaching, or writing, or being with people I love.
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The Correlation Between Love and Essay-Writing: An Interview with Jill Christman
Practicing deep curiosity and close observation is fundamental to writing essays. We need only to look at our small children to teach us these lessons.
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The Lucky Ones
I live my life through the twin tenets of curiosity and close observation. I believe imagination and storytelling are central to our survival as a species—and yet, it’s my imagination that makes me jumpy.
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RUMPUS BOOK CLUB EXCERPT: ALL THIS COULD BE DIFFERENT BY Sarah Thankam Mathews
An excerpt from The Rumpus Book Club’s August selection, ALL THIS COULD BE DIFFERENT by Sarah Thankam Mathews
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From the Archive: Sketch Book Reviews: How I Became a Tree by Sumana Roy
An illustrated review of Sumana Roy’s new essay collection, HOW I BECAME A TREE!
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Play for Camera
I want to tell her that Hunter is Hunter and Daisy is Daisy and both should be allowed to breathe. I want to tell her I know the instinct to split yourself in half, too, that I know the violence…
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The Woman in My Head: A Conversation with Emily Maloney
There’s a lot of rules or feelings about how writing a book should be, but very little of that actually corresponds with reality.
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Woven Fibers and Broken Threads: Katherine Agyemaa Agard’s of colour
To be imbricated in hundreds of years of colonial violence is to be entangled in colorist logics and stories of loss and belonging that are rarely linear or singular.
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Finding Meaning at the Edge of Reality: Talking with Elissa Washuta
Elissa Washuta discusses her new essay collection, WHITE MAGIC.
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Finding Meaning in Where the Why Leads: Talking with Kyle Beachy
Kyle Beachy discusses his new memoir, THE MOST FUN THING.