The next Letter In The Mail: Matthew Siegel
Our next letter writer is Matthew Siegel, a poet and essay writer living in San Francisco. He was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and teaches literature and creative writing…
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The Rumpus Book Club Interviews Deni Béchard
The Rumpus Book Club chats with Deni Béchard about his book Cures for Hunger, the complexities of memoir and fiction, and the difference between traditional French and Quebecois.
Percussion Grenade by Joyelle McSweeney
McSweeney asks us to inhabit the conflicting edges of that reality, mouthing the power and joy that come with degeneracy.
A FAN’S NOTES, The Rumpus Sports Column #42: The Miracle
A few weeks ago, I stayed in on a Friday night reading Hannah Arendt’s essay “What is Freedom?”
Problem Solving: Part 1
When we talk about issues of representation, many editors say, “Where do I find writers of color?” I’d like to start to answer that question by compiling a working list…
Mark Ellis: The Last Book I Loved, I Am Ozzy
As a lifelong Ozzy fan, I scarfed down his memoir like a stoner polishing off a bag of Doritos. I Am Ozzy turned out to be a pretty good read,…
Double Shadow by Carl Phillips
Double Shadow seems to find the poet at mid-breath, or in a time of transition where the voice may be in flux from previous work; but the watchful eye, and the careful hand that crafts these verses, is still ever-present.
The Last Book I Loved: Birds of America: Stories
I am a voyeur to the core. Keep your house lit at night and I will peer in to see how you spend your time alone, or what colors you’ve painted your walls. Invite me in and I will pick through your bookshelves and look at all your family photos on the mantle while you make me a drink. Ask me to stay and I will rummage through your things for what you’ve been hiding in those closets of yours. Write me a book with characters who are so real and precisely drawn that I can feel their warmth in the seat next to me, and I will sign out of Facebook and devour it.
Lit-Link Round-up
As this goes live, I should be landing in London. I used to live there, spending the better parts of 1988-90 in the city as a student, a squatter, a…
Madame X by Darcie Dennigan
Madame X pilots the idea that the line between reality and dream is not so much collapsible as it is meant to be collapsed.
The Last Book I Loved: Storming the Gates of Paradise
Three years ago, I bought Rebecca Solnit’s essay collection, Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics, on a lark. At that time I was beginning to write, trying to…
The Last Book I Loved: Never Let Me Go
The problem with writing about Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go is that I can’t discuss the plot. A blend of science fiction and literary narrative, the novel hinges on a secret, a secret so all-encompassing and imposing, so carefully revealed, that if I were to divulge it, I would ruin the book.
That being said, here’s what I can tell you…