The Audacious Roundup
For the week of January 12th
AUDACIOUS BOOKCLUB HAPPENINGS
Our January selection is Hitch by Sara Levine. We will have a live book club discussion with Sara on January 22nd at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST. Registration is open! I hope to see many of you there.
For newcomers, there is a bookclub FAQ if you have questions about how it all works. 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
As an editor and publisher, I am thrilled by this New York Times review of The Hitch, which is also this month’s book club selection. The Hitch is a NYT Editor’s Pick! The book is out this week!!! Here is Sara being interviewed for WBUR, profiled by the Chicago Tribune, and interviewed by the Chicago Review of Books.
I appeared on the Maximum Film podcast and it was, indeed, maximum fun!
On January 22nd, Dr. Claudine Gay is speaking at the Schomburg Center in NYC. Details here.
Debbie Millman wrote about the new food pyramid, and how its bad design reflects bad thinking.
If you have an interest, I’m judging the Craft Literary essay contest. Submissions are open until January 25th.
Book and project links: Books I’ve Written, RGB Imprint Titles, Rebind: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton; The Forgotten Occupation.
READING MATERIAL
RIP John Forté, an amazing man and musician. We went to high school together and he was lovely then and now. Handsome, kind, charming, talented, so so talented. My heart goes out to his wife and children, friends and family, and his legion of fans.
Where does the regime find the time to be so weirdly petty and venal? Now, the FDA is telling companies that sell chest binders that the binders must be classified as medical devices.
Though there is a ceasefire in Gaza, Israel doesn’t seem to know, as it continues to bombard Gaza.
One of the more awkward news stories of the week is that Maria Corina Machado visited the White House and gave her Nobel Peace Prize medal to Trump and he shamelessly accepted it even though he still did not win the prize. He literally got a participation trophy.
The feds asked UPenn for a list of all their Jewish students and faculty in an “antisemitism investigation.” The students and faculty said no thanks don’t do that so now the university is not complying. Anytime any entity wants to compile lists of people from any demographic, something bad will follow. History has shown us this many times.
Trump is obsessed with acquiring Greenland. This is, of course, unpopular domestically and abroad. European countries have sent troops to Greenland in a show of solidarity and in retaliation, Trump is going to levy a tariff against those nations. He is a literal toddler only that is insulting to toddlers who are lovely. Even though it doesn’t feel that way right now, we must all remember that there will come a day when he is no longer in power, when we no longer need to speak his name, and it won’t be easy to get there, but we will.
Apparently, Jeanine Pirro went kind of rogue with the Jerome Powell prosecution. Or the White House is using her as a scapegoat after finding out that no one likes them.
Minneapolis is still under siege and being occupied by federal agents. They continue to menace people of color and Minneapolis residents continue to fight back. One example is a church that is getting food to families in hiding. The local labor unions are calling for a strike on January 23rd. Minnesota and the Twin Cities are suing the government.
What really frustrates me about Joe Rogan and his ilk is that once in a great while, they start to understand how dire things are, and then express such bewilderment. It’s offensive, tbh. Yes, ICE agents are behaving like the Gestapo. This was always where things were headed.
Parents are struggling to explain the current state of the country to their children.
As Abigail Spanberger assumes the Virginia governorship, she has asked several UVA board members to resign. Thank goodness.
Black women who have been iced out of the job market share what that experience has been like.
Yet another thing that should have us ALL up in arms—individualized retail pricing based on our stolen data. Don’t make me start churning my own butter but I will if I have to.
CBS News continues to shit the bed. Tony Dokupil does not seem up to the task of leading the nightly newscast.
A profile of Tessa Thompson. She was chillingly good in Hedda, btw! A profile of nepo baby David Ellison.
Speaking of, here’s how things are going at the University of Austin. Yikes.
RIP Claudette Colvin, a real one. RIP Renfrew Christie. Scott Adams died.
Adelaide Writers Week was cancelled after the festival organizers disinvited an Australian-Palestinian writer for inexplicable reasons and most of the other writers pulled out in solidarity.
There was a big Verizon outage this week. It made people are angry.
Krysten Sinema had an affair with her bodyguard, who was not Kevin Costner. His wife is now suing her.
In New York, 15,000 nurses went on strike. Power to the people, especially the ones who take care of us in our times of great need.
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor writes about how the Combahee River Collective influenced our thinking about identity and much more.
The divisions in feminism are… not new!
California College of the Arts is closing; such a shame.
This is very L.A. news but Beethoven Market lost its liquor license because of neighborhood complaints. It’s really sad and messed up.
L.A. Reid settled Drew Dixon’s sexual assault lawsuit. I hope this is part of the recompense she so justly deserves.
Ted Sarandos, who clearly does not know any… people, says going to the movies in a theater is for city folk. For one, most people do, in fact, live in cities or towns. But also, people drive to go to the movies all the time, myself included. In a city.
Here is a useful checklist for maintaining digital security, especially if you are a writer, journalist, activist, or, really anyone!
A lot of the common wisdom we share about cooking is… wrong.
Veganism may be waning in popularity,
A conversation with Rachel Reid, the gay hockey writer. Why do women love this show so much? Well… it’s hot. It’s engaging. It’s consensual. Let’s not complicate this folks. Women love this show for the same reason women choose the bear.
When you become a German citizen decades after your family fled the country during the Holocaust.
Kiefer Sutherland got into an “altercation” with a rideshare driver and was arrested!
The Golden Globes happened. There were surprises! Upsets! Etceteras!
Wife Swap, 2026.
Tomato, Tomato is a new literary magazine. Here are their pitch guidelines. And a funny thing happened to Gourmet.
Baklava (delicious) contains multitudes.
WIRED is hiring a business editor.
RING THE ALARM! There is a new Min Jin Lee novel, American Hagwon, on the horizon.
GWAR covering Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan. That’s the good stuff, right there.
THE RUMPUS ROUNDUP
Weeks of January 4th and 11th, 2026
Essays:
Barkwork by Michael Jerome Plunkett
Turmeric, Nine Ways by Preeti Talwai
Fiction:
Rabbit & Ox by Jen Soong
One of the Good Ones by Mai Mageed
Poetry:
The Vegetarian by Varun U. Shetty
How to Maintain Eye Contact by Jordan Hamel
Hypothermia and J. Edgar Hoover by David Moolten
Comics:
When I Die and Go to Hell by Chris Galver
Reviews:
The Unkindness of Time: Elaine Sexton’s “Site Specific: New and Selected Poems” by Walter Holland
Gaar Adams’ “ Guest Privileges Deconstructs” “Isn’t it Harder There?” for LGBTQ+ People in the Gulf by Maya Williams
Brandon Kilbourne’s “Natural History” is a Meticulously Crafted Diorama by Mya Matteo Alexice
Procrastitiching and Learning Who You Are by Katrina Ray-Saulis
Interviews:
A Conversation with Anbara Salam by Samatha Ladwig
A Conversation with Jason Mott by Timothy Jai
The First Book by Addie E. Citchens
A Conversation with Winnie M. Li by Stephanie Jimenez
A Conversation with Saeed Jones by David Y.
A Conversation with Corey Rosen by Samantha Lien
A Conversation with Chris Kraus by Katie Bennett
A Conversation with Virginia Evans by Amy Gustine
A Conversation with Tayyba Kanwal by Allison Wyss
A Conversation with Tracy K. Smith by Junious Ward
Dear Roxane and readers,
Just reporting some efforts from Grand Rapids, MI, to push back and to help people in need. We are supporting a few families with cash because due to their status (I don’t know what their status is & I don’t care) they’re afraid to go to work. The large downtown church I belong to feeds 250 people or more who show up needing meals every Saturday. No questions of course, with protocols in place in case anyone shows up wanting to ask anyone about their status or try to apprehend them. St Mark’s Episcopal-come visit if you’re in town. xoxo
Gwar civering Pink Pony Club was just what I needed today!