Joke or Treat
Artist Jon Cotner celebrated Halloween by collecting jokes from his neighbors in Brooklyn. Check out his slideshow at The Hairpin.
...morePosts by: Lisa Dusenbery
Sandy Roundup
Mother Jones is a good place for ongoing updates. Yesterday, their Climate Desk spoke with elderly NYC residents trapped without power. Our own Michelle Dean writes about “FEMA, Inequality and the Need for Better Government.” “Where Did All the Gasoline Go?” The Atlantic has some answers. The Nation looks ahead to how Sandy will impact the election. How to […]
...moreAll-Story and The Conversation
Zoetrope’s fiction quarterly, Zoetrope: All-Story is offering slices of cinematic history to lucky subscribers. Subscribe to the magazine before November 15th and you’ll be entered into a drawing to win one of fifty original 35mm frames from Francis Ford Coppola’s acclaimed film The Conversation.
...moreWest Coast Showdown: The Stranger vs. The Believer
“Watch as writers from The Believer and Seattle’s The Stranger go head-to-head with tales from their youth. Jesus! LSD! Virginity! No topic is off-limits.” Featuring The Believer’s Brian McMullen, Laura Howard, and Daniel Levin Becker and The Stranger‘s Lindy West, Christopher Frizzelle, and Bethany Jean Clement. Free drinks with purchase of How to Be a Person or The Believer Issue #93 while supplies last! Thursday, November […]
...more826 Valencia Quarterly: “Turn the page. Start the ignition”
826 Valencia recently released its Quarterly 16. The volume sports excellent student writing introduced by our own Isaac Fitzgerald and peppered with illustrations by artist and Rumpus contributor Wendy MacNaughton. After you read Isaac’s foreword, head over here to purchase the quarterly and support 826 Valencia.
...moreSandy Roundup
The New York Times tracks the storm and the daunting recovery effort. The Atlantic has a range of coverage on the hurricane, including political, economic, and historical perspectives. A list of resources for Sandy relief efforts at Racialicious. Check the NYC Mayor’s office Twitter feed for ongoing updates and ways to help. Rumpus columnist Steve Almond on why Sandy matters […]
...more“best of all, I remember it all”
At The Bold Italic, Bucky Sinister writes about living in San Francisco after getting sober, how he learned to do things without drinking, and his newfound ability to follow through on creative impulses. “Most importantly for me, I began creating again. In 15 years of drinking, I had one book published. In the last 10 years of […]
...moreMcSweeney’s Launches Poetry Series
McSweeney’s brand-new poetry series begins tomorrow evening in San Francisco. The inaugural reading will feature writers Allan Peterson, author of Fragile Acts (a Rumpus Poetry Book Club selection), Rebecca Lindenberg, author of Love: An Index, and Zubair Ahmed, author of the forthcoming City of Rivers. Friday, October 26 at 7:30 PM at Booksmith. Free!
...moreLana Wachowski Receives HRC Visibility Award
Lana Wachowski, director of The Matrix trilogy and the new film Cloud Atlas, received the Human Rights Campaign’s Visibility Award in San Francisco this past weekend. Don’t miss Wachowski’s speech, in which she discusses the isolation and trauma of her youth and her experiences as a transgender woman. “I am here because when I was young, I wanted […]
...moreThe (Big) Business
“San Francisco’s critically acclaimed independent stand up comedy show takes over Cobb’s – for one night only.” Comedy collective The Business — featuring Mike Drucker, Caitlin Gill, Sean Keane, Alex Koll, Bucky Sinister, and Chris Thayer — will take the stage at Cobb’s Comedy Club for a special birthday show! Featured guests for the evening include Kevin Camia and Jamie & Sissy […]
...moreNick Hornby in San Francisco Tomorrow!
Nick Hornby is on tour for More Baths Less Talking, the latest collection of his celebrated Believer column. Tomorrow he stops in San Francisco for a conversation with Judson True. Wednesday, Oct. 24th, 7:30 pm at Herbst Theatre (401 Van Ness Avenue). Click here to purchase tickets.
...moreThe Escape Hatch
Molly Crabapple writes about her time as a “professional naked girl,” reflecting on the complicated relationship between beauty and power. “…I was doing my best to escape the trajectory of art school-retail-professional failure that, as a broke student at a bad school, I was marked out for. I wanted to make money fast, shove it into […]
...moreHow to Sharpen Pencils: The Commercial
Melville House presents a 30-second TV spot for David Rees’ new book, How to Sharpen Pencils. Check out the video after the jump. And don’t miss the great conversation we had with Rees last month. “As you’ll see, the commercial borrows the tried and true tropes of American infomercials to sell a truly revolutionary product: the definitive guide […]
...moreAmanda Davis Award
McSweeney’s is accepting submissions for their Amanda Davis Highwire Fiction Award. “This memorial award is intended to aid a young woman writer of 32 years or younger who both embodies Amanda’s personal strengths—warmth, generosity, a passion for community—and who needs some time to finish a book in progress.” More information on the contest after the […]
...moreAmanda Todd and Myths of the Internet Age
At the New Yorker, Rumpus Saturday editor Michelle Dean writes about Amanda Todd, cyber-harassment, outed Reddit moderator Michael Brutsch, free speech, and the idea that cyberspace would offer a “bodiless” freedom. “The power to get away from yourself, like everything else, is unevenly distributed. Women have become, as Franks put it, ‘unwilling avatars,’ unable to […]
...more“not asking for permission to be human”
The Millions interviews Cheryl Strayed about grief, Sugar, rejection, setting boundaries, and much more. “That’s what authority is. When you’re actually writing from that deepest place within you, if you tell the truth, you’re using your greatest power and your greatest authority. That’s a key piece, not just doing that as a writer but when […]
...more“the literary apologia”
Novelist John Reed, who wrote an excellent piece for us last year on the politics of narrative, talks with Slant about repentant book critics. The conversation includes some kind word for our book reviews: “On the Rumpus, you can write a 3000 word review. You’re just not going to get that in print.” Thanks, John […]
...moreMorning Moments
NPR’s Weekend Edition interviews Mary Oliver, Pulitzer-prize winning poet and author of the recently released collection, A Thousand Mornings. “One thing I do know is that poetry, to be understood, must be clear… It mustn’t be fancy. I have the feeling that a lot of poets writing now are, they sort of tap dance through it. […]
...moreAlcott Rumpus Reading
Kathleen Alcott will be at San Francisco’s Alley Cat Books tonight, reading from her new debut novel, The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets (September’s Rumpus Book Club selection). The event will also feature Rumpus editor Isaac Fitzgerald in discussion with Alcott. Don’t miss it! Tuesday, October 16, 6:30 pm. Alley Cat Books (3036 24th St.)
...moreLawrence Ferlinghetti Poetry Fellowship
The University of San Francisco has established a fellowship in honor of Lawrence Ferlinghetti “who published and supported the work of writers who were outsiders―outside traditional academia or traditional social conventions.” Awarded bi-annually, the fellowship provides full tuition funding to an applicant in poetry “whose work embodies a concern for social justice and freedom of […]
...moreBlame Game
At Clutch, Evette Dionne writes an open letter to Abigail Fisher, the young woman whose case against the University of Texas is currently being heard by the Supreme Court. Fisher claims that her whiteness was held against her, leading to the rejection of her college application. According to UT, Fisher wouldn’t have been admitted, regardless […]
...moreKathleen Alcott in San Francisco!
Kathleen Alcott will be at Alley Cat Books next week, reading from her new debut novel, The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets (September’s Rumpus Book Club selection). Join her on Tuesday, October 16, 6:30 pm. Alley Cat Books (3036 24th St.) Alcott has two other SF readings planned: Thursday, October 11 (tonight!), 7 pm. Belmont Library (1110 […]
...more“Underwear is definitely pants”
Dissecting the lies writers tell themselves, Alexander Chee offers sound advice on how to succeed — or at least succeed in being honest with oneself. “Don’t sit there imagining disapproval instead of imagining your novel. Find out. Write it, get people to read it, send it out. And don’t just send it out five times. […]
...moreSeeming versus Being
“Ultimately, A Working Theory of Love examines, quite successfully, our semi-delusional approach to interpersonal relationships and contemplates whether the world comes down on the side of seem or be—or if it remains negotiated in the space in between.” BOMBLOG takes a closer look at the exploration of the “mind-body problem” in Scott Hutchins’ new novel, A […]
...morePraise for The Middlesteins
Our October Rumpus Book Club selection, Jami Attenberg’s The Middlesteins, has been receiving lots of accolades from the likes of O Magazine, The Buffalo News, and Grantland. “…It’s clear-eyed funny and truthful and deeply moving, especially in the killer-punch of its ending.”
...moreDan Weiss’s Morning Coffee
Dan Weiss is away this week. We’ll do our best to get the day started without him. “If you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you will spend your life completely wasting your time.” Indeed. Take a peek inside The Book of Barely Imagined Beings. The therapist of the future is […]
...moreDaniel Alarcón on Radio Ambulante
KQED talks with author Daniel Alarcón about the new Spanish-language program Radio Ambulante, of which he is co-founder and executive producer. (Our recent interview with Alarcón is mentioned in the segment! Have you read it?)
...moreRock-N-Roll Carnival
This Thursday, Broke-Ass Stuart, Tricycle Records and Public Works are hosting a Rock-n-Roll Carnival in San Francisco. The event will feature performances by Birdmonster, Le VICE, and Teenage Sweater. Plus magic, comedy, burlesque, whiskey, and more. October 11th at Public Works. Doors at 8pm. $7 pre-sale/ $10 at the door. More info after the jump:
...moreBanned Books
Rumpus editor Stephen Elliott reads a passage from Catch-22 over at the City Lights blog. The reading is part of City Lights’ month-long Banned Books Project, which features authors sharing excerpts from their favorite banned books.
...moreSF’s Adobe Bookshop Lives!
Good news: Adobe Bookshop, which has spent twenty-three years in the Mission, will not be closing despite rising rent. Andrew McKinley, the proprietor of Adobe, explains his plan to transform the shop. “I choose to be an optimist and believe that the store can be saved, providing enough people band together to contribute labor, sufficient funds, and […]
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