The Audacious Roundup
For the week of March 30th
AUDACIOUS BOOKCLUB HAPPENINGS
Our April selection will be Black. Single. Mother. by Jamilah Lemieux. We will be in conversation with Jamilah on April 29th, at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST. Registration is open.
For newcomers, there is a bookclub FAQ if you have questions about how it all works. And this is what we will be reading for the rest of the year. We’re partnering with the lovely people at Allstora for the Audacious Book Club. Now, you can sign up to have the monthly selections delivered to your doorstep each month! Otherwise, I’ve put together an Audacious Book Club storefront if you want to buy current or forthcoming book club titles.
THE NEWSLETTER WEEK IN REVIEW
PERSONAL & PROFESSIONAL NEWS
Debbie Millman is going to make her off-Broadway debut in The Menopause Monologues. You can buy tickets here! I’ve read her monologue. It’s perfect and powerful and it will break your heart before putting it back together again.
For my Australian readers, I will be back in Sydney on June 12th, in conversation with Narelda Jacobs! Tickets here!
Book and project links: Books I’ve Written, RGB Imprint Titles, Rebind: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton; The Forgotten Occupation.
READING MATERIAL
Debbie and I are excited to share these new initiatives we are launching at The Rumpus. Take a look. Submit to our fellowships. And become a paying member if you like what we’re doing.
The Supreme Court heard arguments about birthright citizenship. The president showed up for a few minutes to… intimidate the court? Take a nap at the court? Who knows!
In a frustrating, painful turn, that same Supreme Court struck down a Colorado law banning conversion therapy. Sick shit.
Pete Hegseth is purging military leadership who refuse to lower themselves to his level.
The war with Iran continues. Trump is getting crushed and yet remains delulu and is making dangerous threats on social media where, it seems he is dictating war policy.
Kristi Noem’s husband …. well…. it is what it is. In sort of related news, Pam Bondi has been ousted as AG.
Few things are more dangerous than women who are so desperate to be adjacent to white patriarchal power that they will condemn all women to servitude.
A deep dive on Open AI’s Sam Altman.
Though Nancy Guthrie is still missing, Savannah Guthrie is returning to work and having to talk about what she is going through.
Some pilots did a fly by of Kid Rock’s house, were reprimanded and suspended and then quickly that was reversed.
Believe it or not, there is life without smartphones.
After his DUI last week, Tiger Woods is going to rehab.
There are astronauts in space, on the Artemis II, just taking a moon drive by. Of course the White House wants to slash billions from NASA’s budget despite how much they do with relatively little.
The couch fornicator is writing a new book that is clearly part of his presidential ambitions.
Drama surrounding The Drama?
Speaking of drama…
A judge has thrown out sexual harassment claims by Blake Lively against Justin Baldoni but other aspects of the case will proceed.
A writer endeavors to use nonbinary pronouns and encounters all kinds of resistance from people who should know and do better. (I did not start reading this essay expecting that I would make a brief appearance which is to say I’m only sharing this because it’s a great essay not because I am mentioned.)
Art heist! Again!
Another day, another man murdering his wife, this time Nancy Metayer Bowen, a vice mayor in Coral Springs, Fla. May she rest in power.
Myriam Gurba offers frank guidance on creating safe spaces for survivors and bringing an end to gender-based violence.
A cover reveal for Deesha Philyaw’s new novel.
There was some rap beef about a contract that involved a touch of kidnapping.
An American (American) flight attendant was found dead in Columbia. RIP!
Betty Buckley on Cats reimagined in an extraordinary way.
Allbirds (pretty comfortable slippers) just sold for “only” $39 million. Private equity ruins everything and yet business people still serve themselves up to ruin!
Love this Cornell professor who has her students use typewriters once a semester. I love that click click clack of a typewriter.
The way cookbooks are offering new avenues for great food writing. And why cookbooks are such an enduring medium.
Nigella is writing for the Financial Times again!
Here are the 23 books Jeremy O’Harris read whilst in a Japanese jail.
After some kerfuffle, Hershey’s is bringing back real chocolate. Now… why would a CHOCOLATE company dare to think they could skimp on chocolate? Make it make sense!
Brandy has a new memoir!
Celine Dion is returning to the stage! Au Paris! Allons-y!
The Broadway schedule is no joke—eight performances a week! Two two performance days a week! Anyway, Megan Theeeeeeeee Stallion is currently staring in Moulin Rouge and was taken to the hospital for exhaustion.
Did you know there is an online database for birdwatchers? I love a niche community and learning about their ways.
Another entry in the annals of some aspect of literature that is dying. (It’s not. Nonfiction is not dying, no matter what may be going on, writing about truth will prevail.)
A profile of Ruth Cortez, a longtime server at the Fountain Coffee Room in the Beverly Hills Hotel. A conversation with artist Lauren Halsey. A profile of Ben Lerner. An interview with Sarah Schulman. A conversation with Gisèle Pelicot about her new memoir A Hymn For Life. A profile of Sarah Shahi (who will always be Carmen).
Oh, the Summer House drama. So niche. So ridiculous.
Some gorgeous quilts honoring Black women.
Heated Rivalry the musical? Sure! Okay!
THE RUMPUS WEEK IN REVIEW
Essays:
Pita by Christina Hartzell
Comics:
Sabrina by Kate E. Lore
Fiction:
Hell is The Absence of God’s Love by Barrett Bowlin
The One Who Pierces Snow by Hasret Eleby
Poetry:
Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma by Rocio Franco
SUPER BOWL LX: BENITO by Cortney Lamar Charleston
The Longshot by Nikky Finney
Three Poems by Obiageli A. Iloakasia
Reviews:
A Poetics of Water: Maya Salameh’s “Mermaid Theory” by Ashia S. Ajani
In “The Undead,” a filmmaker gets caught in the Kremlin’s dark games by Asya Partan
Interviews:
The First Book: Leigh Lucas by Leigh Lucas
A Conversation with MaKshya Tolbert by Tryphena Yeboah
An Interview with Natasha Joukovsky by Elizabeth Gonzales James
A Conversation with Aimee Nezhukumatathil by Nathan Xavier Osorio
Columns:
Books that Made Me Gay: The Vanishers by Heidi Julavits by Tess McGeer
Other:
Exciting New Rumpus Initiatives by Roxane Gay
Among many wonderful things in this round up (thank you!), I love the mention of e-bird! Though I'm not a birder, I love birds and I'm birder adjacent.. several of my colleagues study birds as do many of the students I teach. It's equally delightful to be reminded how niche are some interests that can be a whole, familiar universe if one is inside it. I feel the same about writing as literature and craft (not academic "misery", which is the only way many of my colleagues experience it). Loving writing and enjoying it (even though it is of course effortful) is a niche interest of mine in some circles and the entire universe for other circles I'm in. :)
Thx for being awesome 🌟🌟 Always a joy to read your comments & collections.