From the Archive: Why Writing Matters in the Age of Despair
No word is wasted. No story is told in vain.
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Posts by: Lyz Lenz
The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #156: Steph Auteri
“I wanted my book to open up a conversation.”
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It’s Not Goodbye
“Nothing is more important than telling our stories in the face of forces that would erase us.”
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Salt of the Earth: A Conversation with John Lingan
John Lingan discusses his new book, HOMEPLACE.
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The Violence of Women: Talking with Amber Tamblyn
Amber Tamblyn discusses her new book, Any Man, cultural myths, obsessions, and crime.
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This Future Is Here: Talking with Tom McAllister
Tom McAllister discusses his new novel, How to Be Safe, workshops, Twitter, dystopia, and narrative voice.
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A Matriarchy of Bees: Q&A with Christine Hyung-Oak Lee
Deputy Managing Editor Christine Hyung-Oak Lee discusses what she hopes to do in her new role, what she looks for in an essay, and beekeeping.
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Everybody Is Fine: Talking with Jasmine Guillory
Jasmine Guillory discusses her debut novel, The Wedding Date, finding success, writing sex, and the revolutionary act of eating.
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Come for Me, Katie Roiphe
Backlash isn’t new to our Internet culture, but with Twitter and hot takes it does come for us a little faster.
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Endless Preparation: Apples and Women’s Work
It makes sense to me that Johnny Appleseed, a man, would travel God’s earth spreading his profligate seed. And then women are doomed to their lives trying to make that seed into something useful.
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Lady Killers and Our Obsession with Murder: Talking with Tori Telfer
Tori Telfer discusses her first book Lady Killers and the fragile “social saran wrap” that keeps us all from killing each other.
...moreCongratulations to the 2017 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant Recipients!
The Whiting Foundation’s Creative Nonfiction Grant is in its second year and seeks to acknowledge the creation of exemplary works of nonfiction.
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Hiding in Plain Sight: Looking Behind Our Masks
In order to stop being scared, we have to see horror for what it is. We have to look behind the mask.
...moreCall for Submissions: Hiding in Plain Sight
This October, The Rumpus is exploring the theme of “Hiding in Plain Sight” and we want all your essays about disguises!
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The Myth of White Male Rage: Jared Yates Sexton’s The People Will Rise
[I]n a book that argues we are divided and stuck in our own echo chambers, Sexton’s own divide goes unexamined, his own echo chamber unchallenged.
...moreFighting the Erasure of Poet Liu Xia
Liu Xia is a Chinese poet. Her husband, Liu Xiaobo, the Nobel Laureate and dissident, died recently in prison. Liu Xia, who has been under strict house arrest for ten years, remains unable to speak or travel freely. Friends who have tried to contact her have failed. Reporters who have tried to visit her home […]
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Faith, Gods, and Gay Sex: A Conversation with Matthew Gallaway
Matthew Gallaway discusses his second novel, #gods, moving from a big publishing house to an indie press, and why it was important to him to depict gay sex in writing.
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Reclaiming Patriotism: Telling a New Story of America
America is a broken window pane—shards of glass, each reflecting a different light.
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Literary Rim Shots: A Chat with John Grisham
John Grisham discusses his advice for young writers, the literary mafia, and why he finally wrote a (literal) beach read.
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You Can’t Be a Snob with Bad Teeth: Talking with David Sedaris
David Sedaris discusses his new collection of diary entries, Theft By Finding, his love for book signings, and his inevitable return to IHOP.
...moreCall for Submissions: Redefining Patriotism
Raised in Texas, I was taught to hold my hand over my heart when the flag was raised, to thank everyone in uniform, and to organize my life in this order; God, Country, Family. Even now, tears spring to my eyes in some sort of Pavlovian response when I hear Lee Greenwood warble, “I’m proud to […]
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The Dark Heart of America: On David Grann’s Killers of the Flower Moon
David Grann’s new book Killers of the Flower Moon explores the 1920s murders of the Osage tribe, the making of the FBI, and is a reminder of the all too recent history of betrayals that comprise America’s dark heart.
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Why Is It Always up to the Women?
That’s the real tangle of women’s labor; it’s too deeply ingrained to the way our lives work for us to properly strike from it.
...moreTaking a Stand with Roxane
I wouldn’t have volunteered at The Rumpus for the past three years, if I didn’t believe in the power of words. But words ring hollow if they are not met with action. Outrage tweets and Facebook posts mean noting if you don’t march, call, email, filibuster, stand, sit-in, demand, riot, challenge, and vote. Today, Roxane […]
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The Rumpus Interview with Leland Cheuk
Leland Cheuk discusses his novel The Misadventures of Sulliver Pong, dark humor, cancer, morally corrupt characters, and his mother.
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How to Be a Person in the World by Heather Havrilesky
Lyz Lenz reviews How to Be a Person in the World by Heather Havrilesky today in Rumpus Books.
...moreWeekly Geekery
There is a looming rift in science journalism. Also, a looming rift in journalism journalism. Letting the robots take over. Brains are not computers. Death, plutonium, and our nuclear history.
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A fascinating analysis of the language of commencement speeches. How to save our digital history. Should the digital humanities even be a thing? Predictive modeling, criminals, and racial bias.
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In a blow to nerdy librarians everywhere, The Toast is closing. And what does the closing of The Toast mean for online community? How social media changes the fame game. Archiving content on nickel plate. When websites manipulate you.
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If Klingon is a living language then Latin sure as hell isn’t dead. “I think therefore I am,” but for animals. Solving history’s mysteries with poop. The Internet is ruining the planet in more ways than you think.
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