This Week in Essays
A weekly roundup of essays we’re reading online!
...moreBecome a Rumpus Member
Join NOW!A weekly roundup of essays we’re reading online!
...moreIt 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.
...moreA Rumpus series of work by women and non-binary writers that engages with rape culture, sexual assault, and domestic violence.
...moreTori Telfer discusses her first book Lady Killers and the fragile “social saran wrap” that keeps us all from killing each other.
...moreRumpus editors share our Nobel Prize in Literature predictions with you!
...more[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.
...moreMatthew 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.
...moreJohn Grisham discusses his advice for young writers, the literary mafia, and why he finally wrote a (literal) beach read.
...moreDavid Sedaris discusses his new collection of diary entries, Theft By Finding, his love for book signings, and his inevitable return to IHOP.
...moreDoree Shafrir discusses her debut novel, Startup, the differences between journalism and fiction, and why she chose to tell this particular story.
...moreDavid 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.
...moreMinda Honey writes at Longreads on traveling to detox from whiteness and discovering there is nearly nowhere to escape. Good news, New Yorkers: apparently noise can be good for creativity. Susie Neilson looks at the good and the bad of noise pollution for Nautilus.
...moreThat’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.
...moreI 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 […]
...moreToday, I am very excited and more than a little nervous to share with you all that I am the new Editor-in-Chief and owner of The Rumpus.
...moreLeland Cheuk discusses his novel The Misadventures of Sulliver Pong, dark humor, cancer, morally corrupt characters, and his mother.
...moreI know being a mother does not limit me. But I also know that it defines me.
...moreLaurie Foos discusses her latest novel, The Blue Girl, feminism, Michael Jackson, and mythical moon pies.
...moreBy writing Luz as a reluctant maternal figure, Watkins has tapped into the lean but vital tradition of fictional ambivalent mothers. The Rumpus’s own Lyz Lenz tackles maternal ambivalence in fiction in a review of Claire Vaye Watkins’s debut novel “Gold Fame Citrus” over at Salon.
...moreWe’re getting ready to send out our next Letter in the Mail, and it’s from Rumpus Assistant Books Editor and blogger Lyz Lenz! Lyz writes a very funny letter to us about the various uses of fine china and her dislike of vinyl siding. Need a laugh? Subscribe to Letters in the Mail today, and Lyz’s letter can be in […]
...moreGrowing up in a slew of Evangelical churches, I saw this system of governance deployed to handle anything from adultery to domestic violence to pedophilia. And in each instance, this system has failed to stop abusers or protect victims. At Buzzfeed, Rumpus contributor Lyz Lenz writes about her experience in Evangelical churches and how these […]
...moreBecause that’s how it is with sisters. You are them. You are not them. You are broken shards from the same pane of glass, each reflecting a different light.
...moreSometimes I envy Absalom. He had recourse. He had power. He raised up an army in his rage. He did something. He turned his rage into an insurrection. All I’ve ever done is turn my anger into words. How can a sister avenge her sister? How can a brother mourn his loss? How can a […]
...more