Worth the Chuckles and Tears: Calypso by David Sedaris
Part of the magic of David Sedaris’s work stems from the simple truth that you really can’t laugh heartily until you’re hurting deeply.
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Posts Tagged: essays
Lessons from a Life: Alexander Chee’s How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
[T]he effect of reading Chee’s essays is to be reminded of why we write, but also, why we read, even in these times of never-ending distress.
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What Is Vibrant and Hidden: A Conversation with Jenny Boully
Jenny Boully discusses her new book, Betwixt-and-Between: Essays on the Writing Life, construction of voice, occupying liminal spaces, and editing with sincerity.
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Woven from Dreams: A Conversation with Kiki Petrosino
Kiki Petrosino discusses her newest collection, Witch Wife, the career she’d have in an alternate universe, and the relationship between reading and writing.
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Here’s Your Beginning: A Conversation with Lynn Freed
Lynn Freed discussions her recent essay collection, The Romance of Elsewhere, the importance of a good first sentence, and the risks involved in writing irony.
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The Rumpus Book Club Chat with Terese Mailhot
Terese Mailhot discusses her debut memoir, Heart Berries, writing candidly about one’s personal life, and the good that can come from anger.
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Not a Single False Moment: I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell
What makes this memoir so fine, so special, is not just the power of these brushes with death, but [O’Farrell’s] examination of them.
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VISIBLE: Women Writers of Color: Morgan Jerkins
Morgan Jerkins discusses This Will Be My Undoing, getting her start on the Internet, and why her collection of linked personal essays isn’t just another Millennial read.
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #117: Paula Carter
“One of my core beliefs is that, by sharing our stories, we come to understand each other more and build empathy.”
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #116: David Lazar
“Becoming an essayist has always seemed to me as a bit of a pratfall.”
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #114: Chelsea Martin
“I think time is really undervalued by people who come from money because they just have the time.”
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Carving Out Enough Space on the Cloud: Talking with Hanif Abdurraqib
Hanif Abdurraqib discusses They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, honoring survival by showing up, and refusing to be governed by genre.
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How We Cycle through Our Lives: Talking with Chelsey Clammer
Chelsey Clammer discusses her new essay collection, Circadian, her writing process, and the body as text.
...moreThis Week in Essays
A weekly roundup of essays we’re reading online!
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Going Off-Script: A Conversation with Mandy Len Catron
Mandy Len Catron discusses How to Fall in Love with Anyone: A Memoir in Essays, what makes for a thoughtful love story, and the politics of love.
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At the Boundaries of Genre: Talking with Lily Hoang
Lily Hoang discusses her first essay collection, A Bestiary, the importance of genre, and the lessons of teaching.
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What Do I Do With My Fear?: A Conversation with Megan Stielstra
Megan Stielstra discusses her new essay collection, The Wrong Way to Save Your Life, fear, privilege, and the intersection of politics and everyday life.
...moreAnnouncing Creative Nonfiction and Fiction Reading Periods
Learn about our new creative nonfiction reading periods.
...moreThis Week in Essays
A weekly roundup of essays we’re reading online!
...moreCall for Submissions: Hiding in Plain Sight
This October, The Rumpus is exploring the theme of “Hiding in Plain Sight” and we want all your essays about disguises!
...moreThis Week in Essays
At Longreads, Jennifer Hope Choi traces a line between a birthmark, a family history, and an ethnology. For VIDA, Mirene Arsanios reflects on language, translation, and the power that an editor wields.
...moreThis Week in Essays
Alexandra Wuest tackles grief, art, and the insights solitude can offer over at Fanzine. For Real Life, Eleanor Penny asks the big questions about and considers the implications of the creation of an artificial womb. Here at The Rumpus, Zoe Fisher recalls finding a radical sanctuary in her local library as a teenager.
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Navigating Empathy: Camille T. Dungy’s Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys into Race, Motherhood, and History
Luckily for us, Dungy’s increase in empathy and experience coincides with her embrace of the braided essay: her thinking crashes people, places, and ideas against each other in unexpected and adventurous ways.
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An Experience and a Life and a Family: Talking with Scaachi Koul
Scaachi Koul on her debut essay collection One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter, learning to be patient with her own narrative, and three rules for book tours.
...moreThis Week in Essays
In a stunning bit of reportage at Guernica, Lacy M. Johnson looks at the costs of laying nuclear waste to rest, and at the impact doing so has had on one particular St. Louis suburb. For Nowhere, Hillary Kaylor finds there’s little she can do to help the kids who spend their days scavenging a dump in Cambodia.
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VISIBLE: Women Writers of Color: Samantha Irby
Samantha Irby discusses her new collection, We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, her reluctance to call herself a writer, and writing for the “cream jeans” crowd.
...moreThis Week in Essays
“There may be freedom in America but it is not for me.” At Catapult, Kenechi Uzor reminds us that not every immigrant story is an uncomplicated, happy one. Mallika Rao writes for the Atlantic on the the beloved web series Brown Girls, its coming leap to HBO, and the promise of more complex narratives for people of […]
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The Rumpus Book Club Chat with Samantha Irby
Samantha Irby discusses her new essay collection, We Are Never Meeting in Real Life, all that comes along with writing about your life, and reading great horror books.
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Reality Scooped: Talking with Tony Tulathimutte
Recent Whiting Award winner Tony Tulathimutte discusses his first novel, Private Citizens, the state of satire in 2017, “booby-trapping” identity politics, and productivity in the Internet age.
...moreThis Week in Essays
For The Smart Set, Natasha Burge walks the streets of Khobar, Saudi Arabia, and examines the ways both cities and selves can change through time. In this latest Multitudes installment for The Rumpus, Christine No writes a stunning piece on family and attempts at healing.
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