| The Rumpus | |
| Type: | Literature, culture |
| Owner: | Alyson Sinclair |
| Editor: | Aram Mrjoian (editor-in-chief); Stephanie Trott (managing editor) |
The Rumpus is an online literary magazine founded by Stephen Elliott, and launched on January 20, 2009.[1] The site features interviews, book reviews, essays, comics, and critiques of creative culture as well as original fiction and poetry.[2] The site runs two subscription-based book clubs[3] and two subscription-based letters programs, Letters in the Mail[4] and Letters for Kids.[5]
The Rumpus has fostered writers, artists, and editors like Roxane Gay who served as Essays Editor and who credits the site for developing her audience,[6] Isaac Fitzgerald who served as managing editor before moving to BuzzFeed to help create BuzzFeed Books,[7] Rick Moody, Wendy MacNaughton, Paul Madonna, Peter Orner, Yumi Sakugawa, Steve Almond, and Cheryl Strayed, who began her "Dear Sugar" advice column on the site.[8] [9]
In July 2016, the site launched the Rumpus Lo-Fi Film Festival in Los Angeles as response to the high cost of other festivals.[10]
In January 2017, The Rumpus was purchased by Marisa Siegel,[11] previously the site's managing editor.[12] Siegel was editor-in-chief and owner of The Rumpus for five years, before selling the magazine to Alyson Sinclair in January 2022.[13] Sinclair appointed Alysia Li Ying Sawchyn editor-in-chief. In September 2023, Sawchyn was succeeeded as editor-in-chief by Aram Mrjoian.[14]