First, in the Saturday Interview, Helga Schimkat talks to author Eden Robinson about silencing the inner voice of criticism. Robinson, whose award-winning novel Monkey Beach is set in British Columbia, emphasizes the sensory and emotional role of home in her work, saying, “Writing about your community is difficult for any writer. The push and pull of representing your world responsibly and your artistic license is a tricky balance.”
Then, in the Sunday Essay, writer and former Sunday Rumpus Editor Gina Frangello visits to Education and Hope, Julie Coyne’s non-profit dedicated to serving poor children in Guatemala. Frangello’s own crises—an ongoing divorce, ailing parents, and a diagnosis of breast cancer—frame the trip abroad and provide the fragments of hope needed as she passes “through her own needle’s head of pain and revelation.”
Finally, a special thank-you to Martha Bayne and Zoe Zolbrod for two wonderful years of Sunday Rumpus. Martha and Zoe have brought us stunning essays, amazing conversations between writers, and have become a part of The Rumpus family. We can’t wait to see what they’ll be doing next!