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The Rumpus
@therumpus.net
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Independent since 2009. Read The Rumpus Magazine. Become a Member. Receive Letters in the Mail from Authors. Join a dynamic, global community.

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therumpus.net
"Go big as you can, or stay on the porch."

Addie E. Citchens gives her advice for navigating publishing her first novel, Dominion (@fsgbooks.bsky.social), in the latest installment of The First Book.

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January 9, 2026 at 9:00 PM
therumpus.net
“...no matter how many external systems try to erase this community, it is not disappearing anytime soon.”

From “Gaar Adams’ Guest Privileges Deconstructs ‘Isn’t it Harder There?’ for LGBTQ+ People in the Gulf,” a new original essay by @emmdubb16.bsky.social.

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January 9, 2026 at 4:00 PM
therumpus.net
“She reveals to us the profound confusion and sorrow when our older selves forget the familiar way home.”

Walter Holland reviews @elainesexton.bsky.social’s Site Specific: New and Selected Poems (Grid Books).

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January 8, 2026 at 5:02 PM
therumpus.net
"My hope is that when they finish, they recognize the oddity and the danger that is American life."

@timothyjai.bsky.social interviews Jason Mott about People Like us (@duttonbooks.bsky.social).

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January 7, 2026 at 3:00 PM
therumpus.net
"Once you scrape back the layers and layers and layers of myth, what stories do we have left to examine?"

Samantha Ladwig interviews Anbara Salam about The Salvage (@tinhouse.bsky.social).

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January 6, 2026 at 3:01 PM
therumpus.net
"In my village, they bathe a blue, / red-crested rooster with a garden hose. / He struts and spreads his wings / and has no patience for little things like me."

From "The Vegetarian," a new poem by @shettyvu.bsky.social.

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January 5, 2026 at 10:00 PM
therumpus.net
"Can I write a useful poem? Can I write a provocative poem? Can I write, simply, a happy poem?"

@gabrielleghogan.bsky.social interviews @rckylrnts.bsky.social about Death of the First Idea (@aaknopf.bsky.social).

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January 4, 2026 at 5:00 PM
therumpus.net
“I don’t have to open my eyes to know I’m ugly and drooling and uncontainable.”

From Rumpus original fiction piece “Center of Gravity" by Kristina Kasparian.

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January 4, 2026 at 12:00 AM
therumpus.net
"I do think a very important aspect of being a beginning writer is to be kind to yourself."

Phyllis Grant interviews Adam Roberts about Food Person (@aaknopf.bsky.social).

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January 3, 2026 at 8:00 PM
therumpus.net
“Who'll be there for you when the rain starts to fall?”

From the new Rumpus Original Comic "Fridays in the Year 2000" by Clare Fielder.

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January 1, 2026 at 5:01 PM
therumpus.net
“It was all bottled up inside for such a long time, and the desire to get it down on paper was overwhelming.”

@jennybartoy.bsky.social interviews @karenpalmer.bsky.social about She's Under Here (@algonquinbooks.bsky.social).

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The cited information but not the quote written in white at the bottom of Palmer's author photo. In the bottom lefthand corner is the book cover for She's Under Here with the Rumpus logo overtop.
December 31, 2025 at 5:01 PM
therumpus.net
“Sometimes it’s almost like writing a little skit or something, where one page is the straight man and then the next page comes in with the punchline.”

Aishvarya Arora interviews Natalie Shapero about Stay Dead (@coppercanyonpress.bsky.social).

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The cited information but not the quote written in white at the bottom of the book cover for Stay Dead. In the lower righthand corner is Natalie Shapero's author photo with the Rumpus logo overtop.
December 30, 2025 at 5:00 PM
therumpus.net
"That’s the place where the poems come from, too. Where you’re so confused about what to believe and how to feel, and you just have to write about it until maybe there’s some sort of answer..."

Shlagha Borah interviews Sasha Debevec-McKenney about Joy Is My Middle Name.

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December 30, 2025 at 1:00 AM
therumpus.net
"I wonder how many of us spend our adult lives trying to get back to a home that no longer exists. Trying to get away from it, too."

Our next Letter in the Mail comes from Rebecca Wait! Subscribe to LITM by December 31 to receive Rebecca's missive straight to your mailbox!

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December 29, 2025 at 9:00 PM
therumpus.net
“And the light fell like a sheet of warm, glowing metal over you. In its concentrating power you saw the terror of your life distilled, and you felt like you would live forever.”

From “The Femcel Catalog a.k.a. The Annals of Obsession," new original fiction by Lydia Wei.

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December 27, 2025 at 8:00 PM
therumpus.net
“...this storm is not destructive—it reveals. It heals.”

Chisaraokwu Asomugha, MD reviews Remica Bingham-Risher’s Room Swept Home (@weslpress.bsky.social).

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December 26, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by The Rumpus
karenpalmer.bsky.social
(Oh look, here's my giant face yet again.) I spoke with @jennybartoy.bsky.social for @therumpus.net about SHE'S UNDER HERE. Just what you wanted to read on Xmas Eve, right?

therumpus.net/2025/12/23/d...
Distance from Trauma by Writing the Memoir Self as a Character in a Novel: A Conversation with Karen Palmer - The Rumpus
“The thing about writing a memoir is, if you write yourself into a corner, you can only get out by telling the truth. Making something up to bridge a problem area is not available to you. With a novel...
therumpus.net
December 24, 2025 at 3:45 PM
therumpus.net
“...we have no choice but to hold a mirror to ourselves, the abysses in which we cultivate our loneliness, and which, we too, try to survive.”

@murmurshewrote.bsky.social reviews @appletwigli.bsky.social's Things in Nature Merely Grow (@fsgbooks.bsky.social).

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The cited quote and information written in black against a grid of light blue and white squares. In the upper lefthand corner is the book cover for Yiyun Li's Things in Nature Merely Grow.
December 24, 2025 at 3:01 PM
therumpus.net
"That’s maybe what literature is about. The meaning making happens when someone reads it."

Alyssa Oursler interviews Issa Quincy about Absence (@twodollarradio.bsky.social).

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December 23, 2025 at 9:01 PM
Reposted by The Rumpus
murmurshewrote.bsky.social
My review of Yiyun Li's THINGS IN NATURE MERELY GROW is up at @therumpus.net right now. A quietly devastating book but one for anyone grappling with loss (aren't we all?)

therumpus.net/2025/12/18/a...
And the Now: on "Things in Nature Merely Grow" by Yiyun Li - The Rumpus
"The problem: What if the tragedy has no end point? In Yiyun Li’s latest memoir Things in Nature Merely Grow, the author spurns the term “grief” and its attachment to endings. For Li, the definition o...
therumpus.net
December 19, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Reposted by The Rumpus
bettybooks.bsky.social
What happens when the story you grew up with isn’t the whole truth? 🌊

In a recent interview with @therumpus.net, Betty author @joannackalbus.bsky.social talks about writing The Boat Not Taken, reckoning with her family history, and uncovering what was left unsaid.

Learn more: bit.ly/495sl0x
December 23, 2025 at 7:03 PM
therumpus.net
"A failed musical became something deeply personal: my first novel."

Taking Back Time: Ursula Villarreal-Moura interviews Quiara Alegría Hudes about The White Hot (One World).

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December 22, 2025 at 3:30 PM
therumpus.net
"...too much saturation and enchantment can be perilous."

Hospitality Training and Taking Care of the Reader: Phyllis Grant interviews Gabrielle Hamilton about Next of Kin (@penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social).

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December 19, 2025 at 12:00 AM
therumpus.net
“A feast. A hole, a heart. / Entrails. Daily rites, / making right. Doilies / on a plate.” \

From "Sacrifice," a new original poem by Annie Kantar.

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December 18, 2025 at 8:00 PM
therumpus.net
"Now that I am old, I look just like her. I look in the mirror and say that’s my Omai. What is she doing in the mirror?"

Elizabeth Zertuche interviews Joanna Choi Kalbus about The Boat Not Taken.

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December 16, 2025 at 9:02 PM