Posts by author
Lisa Dusenbery
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How 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…
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Amanda 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…
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Amanda 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…
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“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…
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“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…
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Morning 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…
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Alcott 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.…
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Lawrence 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…
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Blame 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…
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Kathleen 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.)…
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“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…
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Seeming 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…