In a Quicksand of Language: A Conversation with Krys Lee
Krys Lee discusses her debut novel, How I Became a North Korean, having empathy for people and characters, and finding the balance between real-world facts and imagination. ...more
Posts Tagged: Korea
What to Read When You Need to Know about Korea
A list of books about Korea (both North and South) and by Koreans that Rumpus editors have read and enjoyed. ...more
This Week in Trumplandia
Welcome to This Week in Trumplandia. Check in with us every Thursday for a weekly roundup of the most pertinent content on our country, which is currently spiraling down a crappy toilet drain. You owe it to yourself, your community, and your humanity to contribute whatever you can, even if it is just awareness of the truth.
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Wanted/Needed/Loved: Weyes Blood’s Mysterious Kris
To this day no one really knows where my kris came from or whether or not it’s a significant part of my family history, if it’s a random object or an heirloom with an untold story. ...more
This Week in Indie Bookstores
Revolution Books in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood is exploiting Trump’s election to raise money for a fight against fascism.
People in Japan value neighborhood bookstores so much that local governments are opening government-run stores in an effort to keep community spaces flourishing.
...moreThis Week in Indie Bookstores
Chicago’s bookstores, bracing against the looming arrival of a physical Amazon store, are stronger than ever. Check out this roundup of local indie stores.
Fišer bookstore, a Prague institution since the 1930s, is closing.
Korea’s oldest bookstore closed fourteen years ago, but Jongno Books is set to reopen in Seoul.
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The Read Along: Christina Nichol
Christina Nichol, author of Waiting for the Electricity, takes a deep dive into Korean literature and catches up on some classics of anthropology and psychology. ...more
David Biespiel’s Poetry Wire: 21 Poems That Shaped America (Pt. 7): “Facing It”
There should be no forgetting, much less forgiveness, of what happened during the Vietnam War. ...more
The America We Live in Now
I don’t consider myself a political person. To me, there are no “wrong” political beliefs. I believe that democracy means respecting everyone’s right to her opinion. And if I were forced to declare my own political views, I would have to reluctantly admit that, out of cynicism and self-interest, I find myself increasingly leaning towards the right.
...moreThis Week in Indie Bookstores
Chicago bookstores are worried about the arrival of a physical Amazon store.
One bookstore is using clickbait tactics on social media to trick people into reading more books.
Some people actually like airport bookstores.
A rural Virginia bookstore has become wildly successful.
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The Name Before My Name
There are times when I must uncork the period, for Isabel only chases my given name. ...more
The Upper Far East
So much for the ‘glamour’ of selling pretty things to pretty people. ...more
Writing to Legitimize the Self
To research her book Without You, There Is No Us, Suki Kim worked undercover as an ESL teacher in North Korea. Kim was reluctant to call the work a memoir, believing that to do so “trivialized” her investigative reporting. The result was a backlash from critics, who called her undercover methods “dishonest.” At The New Republic, Kim responds to her critics:
...moreHere I am telling my story to you, the reader, essentially to beg for acknowledgment: I am an investigative journalist, please take me seriously.
Go Boldly, Dear Dreamer
And while I understand the secrecy surrounding miscarriage—it is hard to quantify what’s been lost—because people don’t talk about it, I am lonely. ...more
The Rumpus Interview with Minsoo Kang
Writer and historian Minsoo Kang talks about his new translation of The Story of Hong Gildong, a touchstone novel of Korea written in the 19th century. ...more
Shelter by Jung Yun
Kim Fu reviews Shelter by Jung Yun today in Rumpus Books. ...more
Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea’s Elite
Even now, writing in Manhattan, my heart beats faster recalling that initial meeting. Oddly enough, the first word that came to my mind was beauty. ...more
The Rumpus Interview with Corinne Goria
Author and veteran Voice of Witness editor Peter Orner sits down with Invisible Hands: Voices From the Global Economy editor Corinne Goria to talk about putting the book together, economic interdependency, and the complex human stories behind everyday items. ...more
Forgotten Country, by Catherine Chung
In Catherine Chung’s Forgotten Country, Janie, the eldest daughter of a Korean immigrant family and a graduate student in mathematics, has always carried the responsibility of appeasing and protecting her little sister Hannah, and has always felt she had to be “the one who had to fill the missing pieces.” On the very day of her sister’s birth, their grandmother tells young Janie that every generation of their family has lost a daughter and that it is her responsibility to keep her little sister safe.
...moreLife’s Only as Bad as You Make It Out to Be
A review of Nami Mun’s debut novel, Miles from Nowhere
...moreThe Rumpus Original Combo: Paul Yoon’s Once the Shore
“One time I was reading Haruki Murakami and I thought: if I had the chance, would I ever ask him why his characters always vanish? I’m not sure I’d want to. Maybe he doesn’t know either.”
Once the Shore: The Rumpus Review
When I first encountered Paul Yoon’s story, “Once the Shore,” the opening piece in Best American Short Stories 2006, I felt the rush of a new discovery. In the first paragraph, a woman tells a waiter how her husband parted his hair.