Essays
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The Unteachable Dark
Writers Rivka Galchen and Zoë Heller, over at The New York Times, discuss the question that will never go away: can writing be taught? They raise valid points about whether teaching writing is fundamentally different from teaching something like science and the…
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The Last Laugh
Memoirist (and former editor-at-large of McSweeney’s) Sean Wilsey talks to The Atlantic about his essay collection, More Curious, and why humor writing resonates: I think there’s something dishonest about writing that isn’t funny. I can’t engage with a piece of work without an element of humor…
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John Freeman Talks With Roxane Gay
John Freeman knows authors. Last year he published How To Read a Novelist, a collection of 55 author interviews. In this month’s issue of BOMB, Freeman interviewed Rumpus Essays Editor Emeritus Roxane Gay calling her “the best thing that came out of Nebraska since…
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Bad Feminist(s)
This Friday, 8/15, The Last Bookstore will hold a celebratory release and reading for Rumpus Essay Editor Emeritus Roxane Gay‘s Bad Feminist from 7:30 p.m to 9:30 p.m. The event features Rumpus friends and contributors, including Nina Bargiel, Antonia Crane, Kima Jones, Mallory Ortberg,…
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Revealing Roxane Gay
On Tuesday, Rumpus Essays Editor Emeritus Roxane Gay launches her second book of the year, Bad Feminist, an essay collection. Kira Cochrane profiles Gay over at the Guardian: For Gay, writing is a way “to think through what it means…
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Between The Covers
Looking for a good new podcast? Check out Between The Covers! Hosted by David Naimon, it’s a literary radio broadcast/podcast for KBOO 90.7 FM in Portland, Oregon. The latest episode features our own Essays Editor Roxane Gay talking about trigger…
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This Week in Short Fiction
There’s a chance you’ll hear Peter Ho Davies read the first sentence of his story “Chance” and you’ll be hooked. There’s also a chance you won’t, but either way, it’s worth a visit to Drum, the “literary magazine for your…
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The Rumpus Book Club Chat With Roxane Gay
The Rumpus Book Club chats with Roxane Gay about her new novel An Untamed State, fairy tales, and the reality of violence that women face every day, everywhere in the world.
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One Giant Cliché
When I became a father myself, I swore my son would never feel my absence like that—not if I could help it. I’d talk to him. I’d listen, ask questions. I’d teach him things, too, and share in the joys…
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The Music Behind the Book
On the heels of her debut novel, Rumpus Essays Editors Roxanne Gay has created a playlist for the book over at Largehearted Boy. According to Gay, An Untamed State took its cues from Kate Bush, The Talking Heads, and a…
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Be Consistent, Be Yourself, Be Committed
Rumpus Essays Editor Roxane Gay spoke to Joshunda Sanders at Buzzfeed about her debut novel An Untamed State and her forthcoming collection of essays, Bad Feminist. Gay offers some advice to writers and bloggers: You have to be consistent. You have…
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The Game of Love
In both darker and lighter versions of fairy tales, a woman’s suffering is demanded in exchange for true love and happily ever after. She must be trapped in a tower or poisoned by an apple or forced to spin straw…