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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
"I don’t really know how to exist without writing."

Our next Letter in the Mail (from authors!) comes from @eraofemma.bsky.social, author of the novel Like in Love With You (@avonbooks.bsky.social).To get Emma's letter, subscribe to Letters in the Mail by January 14!

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January 12, 2026 at 9:01 PM
therumpus.net
“She had to stop waiting for someone else to give her roots.”

From “Rabbit & Ox,” new original fiction by Jen Soong.

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January 12, 2026 at 4:01 PM
therumpus.net
"I think in times of deep need, sometimes the circumstances respond. And this really feels like this book happened because we needed it to happen."

Welcome To The Party: David Y. interviews @theferocity.bsky.social about The People’s Project (Washington Square Press).

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The cited information but not the quote written in white against Saeed Jones's author photo. In the lower righthand corner is the cover for The People's Project with the full Rumpus logo overtop.
January 11, 2026 at 10:00 PM
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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The cited information but not the quote written in white against the background of Salam's author photo. In the lower righthand corner is the book cover for The Salvage with the full Rumpus logo overtop.
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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The cited quote and information written in black against a grid of white and light pink boxes. In the upper lefthand corner is the book cover for Room Swept Home
December 26, 2025 at 3:01 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
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"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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The cited information but not the quote written in white against Hudes's author photo. In the lower righthand corner is the book cover for The White Hot with the full Rumpus logo over top
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