| This Week from The Rumpus |
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- Publisher's note from Alyson Sinclair
- SPRING CLEANING! ALL Rumpus merch is 40%-50% off now through April 30 ONLY!
- Week Four of National Poetry Month with poems by Rob Arnold, Soleil Davíd, Mark Leidner, 黄梵 Huang Fan,and Bernardo Wade
- A Letter in the Mail from Jon Hickey, author of Big Chief
- An interview with Denne Michele Norris by Ursula Villarreal-Moura
- Review of Mariah Stovall's I Love You So Much It's Killing Us Both
- Yes(sí) interviews several Undocupoets about the anthology Here to Stay
- New interview with Wayne Scott by Amy Bond
- Jessy Easton for Voices on Addiction
- Eman Quotah for We Are More
- Save the Date for Small Press Sunday
- Thanks to this week’s sponsor, Reedsy (who are hosting a one-day novel revision conference on May 4th)
- And thank you to sponsor Tahoma Literary Review
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Hello Rumpus readers,
Next week, starting May 1, Roxane Gay and Debbie Millman will assume ownership of The Rumpus. And as I shared in the initial announcement last month, I couldn’t be more excited for The Rumpus to enter its next phase under their leadership. There's not a lot of positive news these days, and it feels good to celebrate this win for an indie publication that has been scrappy and volunteer run for so long. One of those former volunteers instrumental in building the magazine was Roxane Gay herself! I can't wait to see what co-owner Debbie Millman brings with her deep knowledge of art and design to The Rumpus too. Truly a dream team!
Since this is my final week in a leadership position at the magazine, I want to make sure this appreciation was shared once more. There are so many people that make The Rumpus possible and I'll never feel like I've thanked them enough!
A special thank you to all our editors, staff, and columnists; our managing editor and acting editor-in-chief, Stephanie Trott; our engagement editor, Caitlin Rae Taylor; our Letters in the Mail coordinator, Monica Masiello; our former editor-in-chief, Aram Mrjoian; and our volunteer board members for helping The Rumpus weather an actual catastrophic storm. In Asheville, NC, we’ll be recovering from Hurricane Helene for many years to come. Your calm guidance and support helped me remain hopeful enough to find a path forward for The Rumpus. It’s absolutely a relay and not a sprint. I’m also grateful to my predecessors Marisa Siegel and Isaac Fitzgerald, who know how wild it is to run a beloved magazine with few financial resources. The Rumpus continues to benefit from Isaac and Marisa’s goodwill-building, editorial skills, and many hours of volunteer labor. I hope to leave a similar impression on the magazine’s history, and I look forward to supporting Roxane and Debbie during this transition and advocating for spaces like The Rumpus always.
On a personal note, I start a new full time job as the Communications Director for The Center for the Art of Translation on May 5. They’re a Bay Area based nonprofit that I've worked with on multiple projects as a freelancer, and it feels exciting to join them now as staff. I’ll be supporting the nonprofit’s publications (Two Lines Press), events, educational programming, and other initiatives that aim to champion new, overlooked, and historically underrepresented voices and literary translation. I’m staying in Asheville, but I’ll be traveling to San Francisco regularly. This week, I also joined the capacity-building board for Story Parlor, which is a West Asheville space for storytelling of all kinds that regularly hosts events and classes. So I'll be involved both locally and nationally (and internationally!) in continuing to support writers.
And I don't want to forget to thank YOU readers. Thanks to everyone reading this who contributes to and advocates for what you care about! If you value a healthy, diverse literary community, keep reading, sharing, and showing up for the things you want to exist in the world!
With appreciation, Alyson Sinclair
Publisher, The Rumpus
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| SPRING SALE!
Now through April 30, ALL Rumpus store merch is 40%+ off! |
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| Letters in the Mail (from authors!) |
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Letters in the Mail from authors is a Rumpus subscription in which you receive an actual, postmarked letter from one of our favorite writers in your IRL mailbox twice a month. All letters are non-promotional, include a creative prompt, and have a return mailing address in case you'd like to write the author back!
Up next, an author letter from...
May 1: Jon Hickey’s debut novel, Big Chief (Simon & Schuster) will be released in April 2025. He earned an MFA from Cornell University and a Stegner Fellowship in fiction at Stanford University. His short stories have appeared in Virginia Quarterly Review, Gulf Coast, and the Massachusetts Review, among other journals. Originally from Minnesota and Wisconsin, he is a citizen of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Chippewa Indians (Anishinaabe). He currently lives in San Francisco with his wife and two sons. Subscribe by April 30! |
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Interviews & Reviews
“The most important thing to remember is that there is never just one story.”
Amy Bond interviews Wayne Scott about The Maps They Gave Us
“Against the insurmountable, music, like any art, need not deliver salvation to provide a salve.”
Seán Carlson reviews Mariah Stovall’s I Love You So Much It’s Killing Us Both
“this anthology thus offers a rare opportunity to witness how poets of undocumented experience witness themselves.”
Yes(sí) interviews several Undocupoets about the anthology Here to Stay |
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| Small Press Sunday:
Verso Press |
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 | | Sunday, May 4 is our next Small Press Sunday! Join The Rumpus, Janet Rodriguez, and Monica Ong from Proxima Vera at 3:30 PT / 6:30 ET to get a look inside one of your favorite small publishers. We'll see you there on Instagram Live! |
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| Thank you to this week's sponsor
Reedsy Learning |
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| What does it take to go from first draft to published book? On Sunday, May 4th, Reedsy is hosting a one-day conference that dives deep into revision tactics. In four sessions, you’ll hear how award-winning editors and best-selling authors approach shaping early drafts into well-structured, polished books. |
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| Click this link (or the image) to view the schedule and sign up. (Replays are also available.) If you’re not quite at the revision stage, Reedsy hosts regular conferences on craft and publishing: view the full schedule here. (The Rumpus will be at the September lit mag event!) |
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New Essays & Columns
“The love I had for him sustained me. I drank from it, lived off its bounty.”
Rumpus Original Column Voices on Addiction: "The Shape of Memory" by Jessy Easton
“We whisper to each other as we wait outside customs, our hair or headscarves and shoulders damp, our emotions a jumble.”
Rumpus Original Column We Are More: "Istanbul" by Eman Quotah |
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| Thank you to this week's sponsor
Tahoma Literary Review |
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| Applications for Tahoma Literary Review's Fellowship at Mineral Arts & Residences near Mt. Rainier, in Mineral, Washington are open now. Click here for additional information. |
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Reader Support Keeps The Rumpus Going! |
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Founded in 2009 in San Francisco, CA and now based in Asheville, NC with readers and editors all over the US and abroad, The Rumpusis one of the longest-running independent online literary and culture magazines. Our mostly volunteer-run magazine strives to be a platform for risk-taking voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere. We lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers readers already know and love. Often, we are an emerging writer's first notable publication, which is something we’re really proud of. We believe that literature builds community—and if reading The Rumpus makes you feel more connected, please show your support! Our Membership and subscription programs along with tax-deductible donations made to The Rumpus through our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas, help keep us going and brings us closer to sustainability.
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