Radical Empathy and the Power of Fiction: A Conversation with Shastri Akella
One of the two great powers of writing fiction is the capacity to invent, to activate the imagination and access realities unlike our own
Life is Damage: A Conversation with Claire Messud
If you’re interested in character, then you’re interested in perspective, and intimacy, and in the distinctions—and distance—between one person’s mind and another’s.
Everything Must Change: A Conversation with Melissa Febos
Melissa Febos discusses her new essay collection, GIRLHOOD.
How I Learned to Hope Again
And in order to hope, I have to once more believe—in the midst of unrelenting dark—that light exists even if I cannot see it.
The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #139: Debra Jo Immergut
“If the door doesn’t open, it’s okay to walk away, give your poor head a rest. And try again later.”
Breaking Through: Gayle Brandeis Discusses The Art of Misdiagnosis
Gayle Brandeis discusses her memoir, The Art of Misdiagnosis, out today from Beacon Press.
The Story We Have Yet to Tell: Talking with Haroon Moghul
Haroon Moghul discusses How to Be a Muslim: An American Story, his own religious journey, and the blessings that come with being an outsider.
The Inner and Outer Self: A Conversation with Sylvia Brownrigg
Sylvia Brownrigg discusses Pages For Her and returning to its world of characters, the inner voices she heeds and those she silences, and who she imagines her readers to be.
It’s Never Too Late to Be Found: A Conversation with Rene Denfeld
Rene Denfeld discusses her latest book, The Child Finder, the ways in which trauma traps us, and the important role of imagination in finding resilience and escape.
Your Patriotism Isn’t Love, It’s Blindness
Love of country, some argue. With their boots firmly planted in my chest as I struggle to protest. No, that is not love, but blindness.
Every Woman Is a Nation unto Herself: A Conversation with Sabina Murray
Sabina Murray discusses the novel Valiant Gentleman, writing characters that are fundamentally different from herself, and confronting issues of colonization.
Breaking the Binaries: A Conversation with Lidia Yuknavitch
Lidia Yuknavitch discusses her new novel, Book of Joan, a reimagining of the Joan of Arc story set in a terrifying future where the heroine has emerged to save a world ravaged by war, violence, and greed.