The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #121: CLS Ferguson
“Because that’s how memories are, right? Little flashes.”
...more
Posts by: Ashley Perez
The Rumpus Interview with Karolina Waclawiak
Karolina Waclawiak discusses her latest book, The Invaders, the dark side of human nature, and what it really means to be a “beach read”.
...moreDon’t Miss the LA Launch of Saint Mazie
Los Angelinos, come out on Sunday to celebrate the launch of Jami Attenberg’s new novel, Saint Mazie. “Meet Mazie Phillips: big-hearted and bawdy, she’s the truth-telling proprietress of The Venice, the famed New York City movie theater. It’s the Jazz Age, with romance and booze aplenty–even when Prohibition kicks in–and Mazie never turns down a night […]
...more
California Prose Directory, Edited by J. Ryan Stradal
Ashley Perez reviews California Prose Directory, edited by J. Ryan Stradal, today in Rumpus Books.
...more
The Rumpus Interview with Jane Rosenberg LaForge
Jane Rosenberg LaForge discusses her new book An Unsuitable Princess, being a New York writer from L.A., and how women get short shrift in fairy tales.
...moreSpent Hits Los Angeles!
Los Angeles! The release party for Rumpus columnist Antonia Crane‘s memoir Spent is happening this Friday, 5/30! This will be unlike any book release party you have ever seen. Not only will Antonia be there, recording artist MOBY will be reading! The event also features Jill Soloway (Transparent/Six Feet Under/Looking/Afternoon Delight), Dirty Laundry Lit’s Natashia Deon, and Flora […]
...moreMidnight Breakfast Makes an Awesome Debut!
Rumpus interviews editor Rebecca Rubenstein recently launched a kick ass online literary magazine, Midnight Breakfast. The folks over at Vela Magazine were quite impressed with MB and Rumpus contributor Kima Jones‘s CNF piece, “The Aqiqah”: “It’s always exciting to see a new literary site launch, especially when it includes complimentary original artwork. But when I saw […]
...moreRoxane Gay Rocking It at Kirkus Review!
We wrote previously about some of our editors getting amazing write-ups at Kirkus Review. Well, now essays editor Roxane Gay has received a starred Kirkus review for her new novel, An Untamed State. Check it out: “The closing chapters suggest that Mireille is on the path to recovery, but it’s also clear that a true recovery […]
...moreNeed a new dating app?
Funny Women editor Elissa Bassist has a very funny piece over at The New Yorker about the dating apps of 2014. This one sounds good: Unhinged Description: Disconnect from old connections. Designed for the dumped, the living alone, and the emotionally delayed. How it works: Unhinged is an app and a lifestyle. It defriends, unfollows, dislikes, unsubscribes […]
...moreMariNaomi gets meta
Rumpus cartoonist MariNaomi goes meta on us and reviews a comic book, Diane Obomsawin’s On Loving Women, in comic form over at The Los Angeles Review of Books.
...moreOn Loss and “Replacement”
Emily Rapp’s name has appeared frequently on the Rumpus as her book The Still Point of the Turning World came out detailing her and her son Ronan’s experience with Tay-Sachs disease, his ultimate death, and her experiences as a mother. Following the birth of her second child, she writes at the New York Times about […]
...moreJames Patterson, Literary Angel
James Patterson is fulfilling his promise to give one million dollars to independent bookstores around the country. Every day, booksellers are out there saving our country’s literature,” Patterson said in a news release. “The work they do to support schools and the rest of their communities leaves a lasting love of reading in children and […]
...moreWe Need More Like This Kid
Six year old Blake Ansari was taught pretty early by his parents that not all children were as fortunate as he was. During trips to shelters, one of the things he realized was that they had no access to books. Read the article over at The Atlantic Cities to see how he raised more than […]
...more“What I Remember”
Rumpus contributor Ray Shea has a new essay over at Hobart. It is a beautiful essay on anger, self control, and body issues. Take a peek: I want to say that I shrunk into my shoes and disappeared, but when somebody throws “fat guy” at you, you don’t shrink, you grow. You bloat. Your belly […]
...moreThe CIA and Creative Writing
Did the Iowa Writers’ Workshop take money from a CIA front? Has it left a profound impact on literature as we know it? The folks over at The Chronicle of Higher Education seem to. “The Iowa Workshop, then, attained national eminence by capitalizing on the fears and hopes of the Cold War. But the creative-writing […]
...moreHow do you arrange your books?
Alphabetically? By Genre? By read or unread? Or perhaps maybe by color? Does the last method make you feel like a weirdo? Well Kristin Hohenadel wants to let you know that arranging your books by color is not a moral failing. “Organizing bookshelves by color, rather than by title, author, or subject, is a well-established […]
...moreOnce Upon A Time…In The Past
Nicole Pasulka writes over at Buzzfeed Books about purging the items from her childhood room as her parents planned to move. In her haste to get rid of everything, she wonders what she may have given up too soon. But we love Max because of his wildness, not in spite of it. Holding these books […]
...moreRay Bradbury on love, life, and writing
The folks over at Brainpickings have unearthed a video from 1974 from a show called Day at Night where guest Ray Bradbury talked about writing, love, and life. “I use a library the same way I’ve been describing the creative process as a writer — I don’t go in with lists of things to read, […]
...moreThe Rock Icon Is Alive And Well
Rumpus columnist Rick Moody knows that the idea of the music legend isn’t dead. While everyone seems to be lamenting about “the good ol’ days” he knows there is on icon on every corner. “It is not so unusual these days—especially in the media and especially among music writers of a certain age—to observe that […]
...moreWanna Go To A Pity Party?
Rumpus Funny Women editor Elissa Bassist is having a pity party and you’re invited. Check you coats and your positive attitude at the door and enjoy…or you know… don’t. “I wrote down a few affirmations, discovered peace and serenity and my upper-arm obesity, but then I accidentally killed my succulent plant and Justin Bieber isn’t […]
...more“Racial Neutrality” Is A Myth
“I am calling bullshit on the fact that the same people that are stretching red tape across bureaucratic processes such as child-support modifications, and family reunification, and section 8 vouchers, and long-term affordable housing, and health-care benefits, and expungements are the same people that are drawing white chalk marks around young black bodies. I am […]
...moreRIP Maggie Estep
Spoken word poet Maggie Estep has passed away. The Los Angeles Times has a wonderful write up of her life and career and how she shaped a whole movement. “In her early work, Estep was a downtown New Yorker who talked tough, joked and was drawlingly sardonic while being sexually explicit. Her pieces often expressed […]
...moreWriters Really Are The Worst Procrastinators
“I once asked a talented and fairly famous colleague how he managed to regularly produce such highly regarded 8,000 word features. “Well,” he said, “first, I put it off for two or three weeks. Then I sit down to write. That’s when I get up and go clean the garage. After that, I go upstairs, […]
...moreDiscovering Someone New
You know that feeling when you discover an author that completely changes your life? Jon Michaud does. He writers over at The New Yorker about discovering the sole work of Breece D’J Pancake. “These bleak qualities may make Pancake’s stories timely, but it is their compressed artistry and distilled feeling that make them timeless. I […]
...moreHappy Birthday Mr. President?
We think not! George Washington’s birthday is actually on February 22nd but thanks to some decisions by the people in charge, we will probably never celebrate the man’s actual birthday on the right day. Mike Duncan and Rumpus illustrator Jason Novak talk about the misplaced birthday of George Washington and the birth of a three […]
...moreLos Angeles Love Through Unique Eyes
Los Angeles native, Michael Garcia writes about his love and fear for the city he grew up in. Like the sailor kissing a stranger at the V-J Day parade, Buzz Aldrin hop-scotching on the moon, or the Escapist punching Hitler in the face on the cover of the first issue of Amazing Midget Radio Comics, Mom’s kick […]
...moreWriters Talk About Mental Health
Remember Jacqui Morton’s recent amazing Rumpus essay? Well she is being interviewed over at The Rejectionist (run by Rumpus contributor Sarah McCarry!) about mental health, writing, and life. “Anyhow! Writing was a passion before it became a profession. This in itself brings challenges but I don’t think they’re any different for me than they are for […]
...moreLiterary Friendships
Rumpus interviews editor Rebecca Rubenstein has an awesome interview with Cheryl Strayed (a.k.a. Dear Sugar), Lidia Yuknavitch, and Suzy Vitello at BuzzFeed Books. They discuss how they make and sustain amazing and inspiring literary friendships amid the chaos of writing, day-to-day life, and everything else in between. Here’s a quote from Strayed: I think one […]
...moreAsk a question to “Dear Life”
Rumpus contributor Jennifer Pastiloff has a wonderful site called The Manifest Station. After being deluged with life questions from readers, she decided to start a feature (smartly) called “Dear Life”. The beauty of the “Dear Life” segment is that writers from all around the world will be able to answer the questions. Here are the […]
...moreJoyce Carol Oates Makes A Wonderland Woman
Rumpus contributor Melissa Chadburn has a new essay at over at Buzzfeed. In it she talks about how Joyce Carol Oates’s The Wonderland Quartet provided her with the counter-narrative she needed to face the world. For me — a woman, and a lesbian to boot — the books represented a kind of literary oasis. I am […]
...more