Humor: A Reader for Writers
Not one but two “Funny Women” pieces are included in Oxford University Press’s Humor: A Reader for Writers: Erin Somers’s “Funny Women #99: Modern Vice” and Katie Burgess’s “Funny Women #102: How to Read a Poem” (only…
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Elissa Bassist
115 posts
Elissa Bassist edits the Funny Women column and teaches humor writing. Her next class is "How to Write a Comedic Memoir" on 3/30. She wrote Hysterical, a semi-finalist for The Thurber Prize for American humor, and is co-writing Inside Jokes: A Comedy and Creativity Guide for All Writers with Caitlin Kunkel (out in 2026). Her newsletter is Tragedy Plus Time.
Support Vela’s Kickstarter to Pay Writers
Vela Magazine is hoping to raise $25,000 to pay its women writers and editors. With less than a week left, they have $7,059 to pry from your gender-netural credit cards.
“Funny Women” Art Show
Near the bottom of every Funny Women piece is the note, “Rumpus original art by Annie Daly.” We believe in combining hilarious content with a strong aesthetic while promoting artists with…
BinderCon: A Symposium on Women Writers Today
Mitt Romney ignited a feminist revolution during the 2012 presidential debates when he said, “I went to a number of women’s groups and said: ‘Can you help us find folks?’ And they…
The Riveter / Issue 02
We love The Riveter, an online and (now) print magazine that “publishes longform by women for everyone.” A lot has changed since we first wrote about The Riveter. Co-founders and co-editors…
Reductress Relaunch
Funny Women PSA: Reductress, “the first and only satirical women’s magazine,” has relaunched with a new female-friendly look and new feminized content. Ambitious co-founders Beth Newell and Sarah Pappalardo saw the…
Brave Author Writes Entire Novel As Nail Art
Courtesy of Reductress–the premier fake women’s news magazine–check out this woman novelist who has written an entire novel using nail art. The drawback: “Archery? No way.”
Reductress: Women’s News. Feminized.
In lieu of a “Funny Women” column today, please read all of Reductress, a new satirical women’s web magazine like The Onion that “tells the stories of real women, written by…
FUNNY WOMEN #100: Writing the Next Great American Woman’s Novel
A lot of women people (as opposed to men people, or just “people”) are upset that Wikipedia editors have created a subcategory for "American Women Novelists.” But I’m not.
The Riveter: Read and Submit!
Joining PDXX Collective and Vela, there’s another new online magazine offering “riveting storytelling by women.” It’s cleverly called The Riveter. Kaylen Ralph and Joanna Demkiewicz, a.k.a. “The Rosies,” created The Riveter to…
PDXX Collective: Read and Submit!
There’s a new website for women writers. The PDXX Collective is a daily dosage of literary feminism, exploring how publishing more women writers can provide more social equality between the genders. Fuck…
BOMB’s Poetry Smackdown
As part of Lit Crawl NYC, BOMB Magazine presents: Poetry Smackdown this Saturday at 7pm at Dempsey’s Pub (61 2nd Avenue). Twelve poets will compete in a read-off to win…