Posts Tagged: A Rumpus Interview

Feeling Comfortable Enough to Be Funny Is What Makes Me Want to Write Fiction: A Conversation with Megan Giddings

By

There was a long stretch where I tried actively not to make things I wrote funny because of a disastrous undergrad fiction workshop where I spent thirty minutes just listening to people complain that a story had jokes. And wouldn’t it have been so much better if the author had let us pay attention to the emotions? Lol.

...more

Constantly and On Your Own: Talking with Natasha Stagg

By

Natasha Stagg discusses her debut novel, Surveys, obsession with celebrity, social media, and how she approached writing about something so ephemeral.

...more

A Life of Words: A Conversation with Chip Livingston

By

Chip Livingston discusses his new novel, Owls Don’t Have to Mean Death, his move to Uruguay, his writing life, and the significance of owls.

...more

Looking for Ghosts: A Conversation with John Freeman

By

John Freeman discusses his debut collection of poetry, Maps, displacement, empathy, and trying to find a way forward in the nation and the world.

...more

Carving Out Enough Space on the Cloud: Talking with Hanif Abdurraqib

By

Hanif Abdurraqib discusses They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, honoring survival by showing up, and refusing to be governed by genre.

...more

The Ability to Pass Becomes Her Cage: Talking with SJ Sindu

By

SJ Sindu discusses her new novel, Marriage of a Thousand Lies, queer readings of Hindu scriptures, and issues of privilege and power.

...more

How We Cycle through Our Lives: Talking with Chelsey Clammer

By

Chelsey Clammer discusses her new essay collection, Circadian, her writing process, and the body as text.

...more

VISIBLE: Women Writers of Color: Aurvi Sharma

By

Aurvi Sharma discusses her memoir-in-progress, finding inspiration in ancient women’s voices, and writing against erasure.

...more

Our Own Bodies: A Conversation with JoAnna Novak

By

JoAnna Novak discusses her novel, I Must Have You, eating disorders, and writing characters that challenge our expectations of how women should behave.

...more

Call and Response: A Conversation with Hannah Tinti

By

Hannah Tinti discusses how The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley came into being, the formation of its characters, and how twelve scars and the celestial heavens help give this book structure and heft.

...more

The Night Is Itself a Novel: Talking with Lidija Dimkovska

By

Lidija Dimkovska discusses A Spare Life, living through the break-up of Yugoslavia, her writing style, and where she now feels most at home.

...more

Going Off-Script: A Conversation with Mandy Len Catron

By

Mandy Len Catron discusses How to Fall in Love with Anyone: A Memoir in Essays, what makes for a thoughtful love story, and the politics of love.

...more

It’s Only a Matter of Time: A Conversation with Jack Driscoll

By

Jack Driscoll discusses The Goat Fish and the Lover’s Knot, “the impermanence of everything,” and how he chooses his characters’ names.

...more

At the Boundaries of Genre: Talking with Lily Hoang

By

Lily Hoang discusses her first essay collection, A Bestiary, the importance of genre, and the lessons of teaching.

...more

Claiming Space: A Conversation with Elizabeth Crane

By

Elizabeth Crane discusses her latest collection, Turf, how where she has lived has shaped her work, and why she loves writing in first-person plural.

...more

Drawing Close to the Void: Talking with Patty Yumi Cottrell

By

Patty Yumi Cottrell discusses her debut novel, Sorry to Disrupt the Peace, how she accesses “the enraptured state” to write, and dreaming as an art form.

...more

VISIBLE: Women Writers of Color: Lola StVil

By

Lola StVil discusses her latest novel, Girls Like Me, how her characters demand to be written, what her family thinks of her writing career, and why representation is essential.

...more

What Do I Do With My Fear?: A Conversation with Megan Stielstra

By

Megan Stielstra discusses her new essay collection, The Wrong Way to Save Your Life, fear, privilege, and the intersection of politics and everyday life.

...more

It’s All Metaphorical: A Conversation with Laurette Folk

By

Laurette Folk discusses her new collection, Totem Beasts, the role of meditation and dreams in her work, and “seeking some heightened experience in the conscious world.”

...more

Beneath a Pile of Tulle and Tiaras: Talking with Devorah Blachor

By

Devorah Blachor discusses The Feminist’s Guide to Raising a Little Princess, princess culture in America and abroad, and publishing a book on feminism in the current political climate.

...more

A Hinging Thing: Talking with Maggie Smith

By

Maggie Smith discusses her new collection Good Bones, how motherhood has changed her writing, and what it felt like to have a poem go viral.

...more

Chewing Rocks: A Conversation with David Biespiel

By

David Biespiel discusses his new book, The Education of a Young Poet, being comfortable in uncertainty, and extending moments in writing.

...more

You Still Got It: Bar-Hopping with Burt Young

By

Actor and painter Burt Young talks filmmaking, art, and the years he spent living on a sixty-three-foot yacht.

...more

An Answer Should Lead to Another Question: Talking with Rae Armantrout

By

Rae Armantrout discusses Conflation, a vinyl recording from Fonograf Editions that “interrogates the difference between texture and tactile; thing unspoken versus thing unseen.”

...more

It’s All Finger-Pointing at the Moon: A Conversation with Carolyn Zaikowski

By

Carolyn Zaikowski discusses her most recent book, In a Dream, I Dance by Myself, and I Collapse, the psychology of repetition, and honoring the power of language.

...more

Writing the Truth: A Conversation with David Hicks

By

David Hicks discusses his debut novel, White Plains, how much truth resides in a work of fiction, and becoming a full-time fiction writer.

...more

VISIBLE: Women Writers of Color: Brooke C. Obie

By

Brooke C. Obie discusses the historical basis for her debut novel, Book of Addis, writing to dismantle white supremacy, and why Black speculative fiction is integral to her survival.

...more

There Is No Break: A Conversation with Nicole Homer

By

Poet Nicole Homer discusses her debut collection, Pecking Order, writing motherhood from many angles, and the importance of representation in the media.

...more

The Rumpus Mini-Interview #105: Miranda Pennington

By

In between book launch events, Miranda Pennington found time to discuss her bibliomemoir and more.

...more

The Rumpus in your inbox!

* indicates required