Recent posts
Rumpus Articles
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Decentering the Human Narrative in Fables: A Conversation with Thomas Wharton
“Do I have a process for tackling tragic scenes? Just to be honest and direct about what’s happening, and to avoid overwriting—that’s what moves me in the sentimental writing that I admire. If my own story makes me cry, that’s…
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Religious Experience
She had a mug collection that spilled out of her cabinets, which stands to reason: When you have children and grandchildren and a 23-year-long career in education, clear out a cabinet or two, because you are about to be lousy…
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The Rooster
“My parents joked about the incident for days, until the Tangshan Earthquake took over the news and quickly pushed it from their minds. The chick that had slipped Mimi’s mouth turned out to be a rooster, growing a bright comb…
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The Rumpus Book Club Is Back
We’re thrilled to announce the relaunch The Rumpus Book Club.* Our monthly author discussions will begin on June 30th at 7pm ET with Ann Patchett. Host Debbie Millman will be speaking with Ann about her storied career, Parnassus Books and,…
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Who You Would Be at the End of the World: a Conversation with Dave Housley
“[T]his process of building and connecting stories together into a larger work… You can start off with one version that you send out to lit mags, and then you can design another version that connects to a larger world. You…
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Sunday Scaries: “The Ballad of Gloria Vetrana”
At first, the reports weren’t especially interesting: unconvincing testimonies of vague phenomena. Folks reported feeling nauseated and feverish. Tinnitus. Migraines. Some reported electrical disturbances, lights straining brown as the power waned.
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The Place That Keeps Calling You Back: A Conversation with Douglas Stuart
“All my work has been about the cost of belonging, because I find that the price of belonging is conformity. Especially as someone from a working-class background who was raised to always think of the “we” and never the “I,”…
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A Conversation between Rachel Khong and Emma Copley Eisenberg
“A story can change your day; it can give a different texture to it, like music can. I love precision and brevity in writing, and the best stories come in the smallest packages. I think of stories more like songs–more…
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Five Poems
I am the Holy Ghost! You are Entangled! Mostly embarrassed of my dead father,I was below the fig,looking up, open-mouthed,following the bees feastingthe fruit to ruin, slogging through the funk lifting from the floorfrom what had fallen; it was the…
