Join us April 18, 8 PM EST/5 PM PST for a conversation and Q&A with Sonora Jha, Lyz Lenz, Maggie Smith, & Reema Zaman. Hosted by Kelly McMasters and presented by The Rumpus. 

These 5 writers explode traditional story arcs of a beginning, middle, and end. Instead, they explore alternate ways to move through narrative--in fiction,  memoir, essay, and poetry--and reach toward the more complex and powerful movement of moving on.

Suggested donation of $20. Pay what you can, no one turned away due to lack of funds. All proceeds after processing fees will support The Rumpus's 2024 contributor pay. 

Please consider buying these authors books through Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore. 

Sonora Jha is the author of three books, most recently the novel The Laughter (2023), which was named a Best Book of 2023 by the New Yorker, NPR, and others. It won the 2024 AutHer Award for Best Fiction and was longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize. Her memoir, How to Raise a Feminist Son (2021) has been translated into Spanish, Portuguese, and German. Her debut novel, Foreign (2013) was a finalist for the Shakti Bhatt Prize and the Hindu Prize and was long listed for the DSC Prize. After a career in journalism in India and Singapore, Dr. Jha is now a professor of journalism and an associate dean at Seattle University.

Lyz Lenz Lyz is a New York Times bestselling author, whose writing has appeared in The Washington Post, the Columbia Journalism Review, The New York
Times, and others. Her book God Land was published in 2019, through Indiana University Press. Her second book Belabored, was published in 2020 by Bold Type Books. Lyz’s essay “All the Angry Women” was also included in the anthology Not that Bad edited by Roxane Gay. Her third book, This American Ex-Wife, published in 2024, was an instant New York Times best seller. She is also the host of the This American Ex-Wife podcast.

Kelly McMasters is the author of the Zibby Bookclub Pick The Leaving Season: A Memoir in Essays and co-editor of the ABA national bestseller Wanting: Women Writing About Desire. Her first book, Welcome to Shirley: A Memoir from an Atomic Town, is the basis for the documentary film ‘The Atomic States of America.’ Kelly's essays and reviews have appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post Magazine, The Paris Review Daily, The American Scholar, River Teeth: A Journal of Narrative Nonfiction. Kelly is an essayist, professor, mother, and former bookshop owner living in New York. 

Maggie Smith is the New York Times bestselling author of seven books of poetry and prose, including You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Good Bones, Goldenrod, Lamp of the Body, The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison, and Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change. Her newest book is My Thoughts Have Wings, a picture book for children, illustrated by Leanne Hatch. Smith’s poems and essays have appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, The Paris Review, TIME, The Nation, The Atlantic, and The Best American Poetry.

Reema Zaman is an author, speaker, book coach, and teacher. Her books include the critically acclaimed memoir I Am Yours and the forthcoming novel Woman in Flight. Her work has appeared in Vogue, The Guardian, Salon, The Rumpus,  and several other outlets. She was an Oregon Literary Arts Fellow in  2018. She lives in Los Angeles with her chihuahua-daughter, Fia the Fierce. 

The Rumpus publishes original fiction, poetry, literary humor writing, comics, essays, book reviews, and interviews with authors and artists of all kinds. Our mostly volunteer-run independent magazine strives to be a platform for risk-taking voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere. We lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers our  readers may already know and love. We want to bring new perspectives  into the conversation that will make us all look deeper. Visit therumpus.net to read new work five days a week.

http://therumpus.net/

Pay what you can. All proceeds will benefit The Rumpus's funds for contributor pay in 2024. 

Women Who Leave: presented by The Rumpus