Turning and Turning: Jericho Brown’s The Tradition
[T]his is a book in direct conversation with literary tradition.
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Posts Tagged: slavery
The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #195: Curdella Forbes
“I wanted the thing to feel as ordinary as bread.”
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A Storm Underneath: Talking with Shonda Buchanan
Shonda Buchanan discusses her new memoir, BLACK INDIAN.
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This Thing of Existence: Talking with Rion Amilcar Scott
Rion Amilcar Scott discusses his new story collection, THE WORLD DOESN’T REQUIRE YOU.
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The Rumpus Poetry Book Club Chat with Eve L. Ewing
Eve L. Ewing discusses her new collection, 1919.
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What We Inherit: Talking with Chanelle Benz
Chanelle Benz discusses her debut novel, THE GONE DEAD.
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Consider Us Women: A Conversation with Kwoya Fagin Maples
Kwoya Fagin Maples discusses her poetry collection, MEND.
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When the Sh*t Hits the Fan: A Conversation with Percival Everett
Percival Everett discusses his newest work, THE BOOK OF TRAINING BY COLONEL HAP THOMPSON.
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A Sense of God: She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore
Perhaps one of the most beautiful things Moore does is to give voice to those who would not or did not have a voice.
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Blind Hunger, Black Bodies, and Radiohead’s In Rainbows
I’ve seen it coming. This is where it passes through.
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Watching Roots in the Age of Trump
…slavery isn’t African-American history, it’s American history.
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Racism Shouldn’t Be Shocking: Toppling American Myths
Let us teach something new to the next generation that speaks to the lessons we’ve learned.
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Black Panther and Strong Women
I saw myself on the big screen—the strong black woman that I am, and the stronger black woman I aspire to become.
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These Places Surround Me: Talking with Quintan Ana Wikswo
Quintan Ana Wikswo discusses her novel, A Long Curving Scar Where the Heart Should Be, delving into the facets of trauma, and her creative processes.
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #128: Dunya Mikhail
“All art is somehow a kind of witness, whether to beauty or to anything else.”
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #125: Tyree Daye
“I think if you are really doing the work, you can’t write about America and not explore race and slavery, and that goes for any writer.”
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The Burden of Teachable Moments
My voice begins to crack so I clear my throat. I look at each one of the girls one by one. The heat in me rises. My skin feels like the Texas pavement in July.
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The Thread: Ways of Being Seen
Can you see it now? Is the image different in your mind yet? A thing you can’t unsee.
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How to Workshop N-Words
I am not willing to let go of one of the only things that truly belong to my people and me. It’s a very exclusive, very tumultuous kind of privilege.
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Not Your Auntie
What I need is for white people to stop calling the Honorable Representative Maxine Waters “Auntie.” For real. It needs to stop.
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VISIBLE: Women Writers of Color: Brooke C. Obie
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.
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Nothing Foreign about It: Talking with Omar El Akkad
Omar El Akkad discusses his debut novel American War, suicide terrorism, fossil fuels, and blankets.
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Magical Systems and Fusion Reactors: Rivers Solomon Discusses An Unkindness of Ghosts
Rivers Solomon discusses her debut novel, the importance of writing the body into a story, and more.
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The Lens Magnifies, the Mirror Reflects: What Photos from the Race War Show Us about Ourselves
[Still photos] grab what otherwise might feel too foreign to understand.
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The Human Cost: Discussing Political Storytelling with Olivia Kate Cerrone
Olivia Kate Cerrone discusses her novella The Hunger Saint and the significance of historical fiction.
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Your Patriotism Isn’t Love, It’s Blindness
Love of country, some argue. With their boots firmly planted in my chest as I struggle to protest. No, that is not love, but blindness.
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There Is Simply No Time for This: Whose Streets? and Civil Rights Cinema
It is unlikely I will see the US justice system evolve toward an egalitarian ideal in my lifetime. But Whose Streets? does offer a clearly visible North Star.
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David Biespiel’s Poetry Wire: 21 Poems That Shaped America (Pt. 15): “Southern History”
We can’t hide from our history and we can’t pass it on to future generations.
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On Grief and Inheritance: A Conversation with Brionne Janae
The poet Brionne Janae discusses her debut poetry collection After Jubilee, intergenerational trauma, and writing her way into historical personae.
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All Writing Is Political: A Conversation with Mohsin Hamid
Mohsin Hamid discusses his new novel, Exit West, hope in fiction as a form of resistance, the necessity of learning to accept social change, and how much America and Pakistan have come to resemble each other.
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