Columns
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The September Rumpus Book Club Selection: “The Odyssey” with Emily Wilson
Written in iambic pentameter verse, Emily Wilson’s Odyssey is a lean, fleet-footed translation that recaptures Homer’s “nimble gallop” and brings an ancient epic to new life. The New York Times named Wilson’s translation as one of its 100 notable books…
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Black Single Moms Create Wonderful Worlds for Their Kids: A Conversation with Jamilah Lemieux
We have always had very high expectations of Black women. We have always had to do more, be more, give more than most groups of people in this country. So if we can talk openly and honestly about that, I…
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15 of the Best Book Covers of August 2026
Plus Rodrigo Corral on designing Life of M and branding Rachel Cusk’s books
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The Ballad of Gloria Vetrana
Some nights, when the feeling gets too strong, I have to get out of bed and walk out to the edge of the yard where I can see the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains, their massive shapes like felled…
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Real Housewives of Hell
Your daddy had the kind of laugh you can tell came from the belly. It was genuine, heavy with something like freedom. What even is freedom in this city where we had to be mean or invisible to be queer?
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Three Poems
In Bangla, language, ভাষা (bhasha), and home, বাসা (basha), could be homophones, except ভ (bha) descends like droplets of monsoon rains and ব (ba) bursts like a prickly jackfruit.
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Pseudomonas
They will toss longstanding marriages to the side, witnessing Saba at her most desirable, opening up like a flower, a corpse flower, titan arum, her body beaming compelling signals that cannot be ignored. And she will be receptive to this,…
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Private Scaffolding, Public Stories: A Conversation with Julie Buntin
I liked the emotional effect of trying to grasp that feeling I think we all have sometimes that life and time have gotten away from us. Second person is a perspective that allows for a lot of telling really fast,…
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Moon Water
You’re making a huge mistake if you don’t stop what you’re doing right now to manifest your goals and imagine your dream life…
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Collective Mourning and Community: A Conversation with Edwidge Danticat
I also like starting my stories in medias res, in the middle of things, because that’s how life is sometimes. Ordinary days can turn into extraordinary ones in a second. I also find it interesting to write about a character…
