Become a Rumpus Member
Join NOW!
I want to tell her that Hunter is Hunter and Daisy is Daisy and both should be allowed to breathe. I want to tell her I know the instinct to split yourself in half, too, that I know the violence required to hold your true self in shadow, that I have another name I only dare whisper.
...more
This book is disarmingly—in fact, unnervingly—amoral.
...more
Ryka Aoki discusses her second novel, LIGHT FROM UNCOMMON STARS.
...more
If I were to stare into a mirror, I’m not sure I would see anything back.
...more
A Rumpus series of work by women, trans, and nonbinary writers that engages with rape culture, sexual assault, and domestic violence.
...more
Billy-Ray Belcourt discusses his new book, A HISTORY OF MY BRIEF BODY.
...more
Cooper Lee Bombardier discusses his first book, PASS WITH CARE: MEMOIRS.
...more
In this sense, [the dogs] are a perfect foil for the conflicted young author.
...more
Artist Sam Brown discusses the highs and lows of big artistic dreams.
...more
But then, full of longing to be someone other than I was, his work seemed perfect.
...more
In The Queer Syllabus, writers nominate works for a new canon of queer literature.
...more
In The Queer Syllabus, writers nominate works for a new canon of queer literature.
...more
In The Queer Syllabus, writers nominate works for a new canon of queer literature.
...more
Queer literature isn’t a box to unlock so that it can unlock me.
...more
Kayleb Rae Candrilli discusses their debut collection, What Runs Over, reclaiming memory through poetry, and the political act of being happy.
...more
Mallory Ortberg discusses their new book, The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror, what it means to be a self-taught writer, and questioning gender.
...moreWelcome to This Week in Trumplandia. Check in with us every Thursday for a weekly roundup of the most pertinent content on our country, which is currently spiraling down a crappy toilet drain. You owe it to yourself, your community, and your humanity to contribute whatever you can, even if it is just awareness of […]
...moreThe PEN America World Voices Festival, a weeklong international literary festival that focuses on human rights, is ongoing in New York City this week, and this year’s theme of gender and power seems more pertinent and urgent than ever. While over 150 writers from across the globe gather at the festival to bridge borders through […]
...moreFor the Guardian, Dina Nayeri explores the troubling expectation that immigrants should replace their identity with gratitude. At New York magazine, Bahar Gholipour covers the fine points of dredging up personal history when writing memoir.
...more
Adichie is far more significant than her accusers seem to know.
...moreWelcome to This Week in Trumplandia. Check in with us every Thursday for a weekly roundup of the most pertinent content on our country, which is currently spiraling down a crappy toilet drain. You owe it to yourself, your communities, and your humanity to contribute whatever you can, even if it is just awareness of […]
...more
The individuality of body horror is its signature attribute. Nothing is more intimate than one’s own body, and by extension, one’s own physical suffering.
...moreThis week, VICE’s 2016 Fiction Issue is out, with work from exciting voices like Ottessa Moshfegh, Rachel Cusk, Roxane Gay, and more. This year’s fiction issue, like the magazine itself, is an engaging, diverse, and sometimes in-your-face read with topics ranging from smart cars to campus rape, love triangles to the meaning of life. One […]
...moreOften well-intentioned cis folks like myself feel kind of overwhelmed by all there is to know and, not wanting to sound ignorant or hurtful, just kind of keep to the sidelines. But it doesn’t take a degree in gender studies to be a trans ally (nor does it require you to have an LGBTQ friend). […]
...more
I am alone. Alone with my small size, my cracking bones, and the guilt that wraps around my spine like a jungle vine. Don’t be hysterical, I repeat to myself.
...more
They’re there but not there. They’re included but their stories don’t fully weave into the story.
...moreAt Catapult, Rachel Klein shares her experience as a mother of a transitioning child: I was worried, like most people are at their core, about myself. I was not being a “good mom,” a “progressive mom,” a “cool mom”; I was being a self-preserving creature. I was worried, not about their identity but about mine. […]
...more
My son was not born my son. My son was born my daughter.
...moreIn a powerful essay at The Establishment, Evelyn Deshane discusses rejecting the medical narrative around transitioning, and how tattoos allowed them to reclaim their own body: When the physicality of my gender—that “place” that could be home—feels out of reach, tattoos are my way to be present in my body, and to control what happens to […]
...more