In an internet era that is increasingly algorithmically controlled, trawled by bots and agentic AI, and feeling ever less human, it’s relatively rare to see an online independent literary magazine survive into its teenage years. The Rumpus, launched fifteen years ago, is one of those publications, and it has continued to play host to a fascinating array of writers even as it has changed hands multiple times over its history. Its newest owners, Roxane Gay and Debbie Millman, began running the magazine in May 2025 with the support of copublishers Ruth Ann Harnisch and Sukey Novogratz. “I have a long history with [the Rumpus],” Gay says, “and it’s a real pleasure to reconnect with the magazine in this way.” This next chapter of the Rumpus features a spate of new programming, including opportunities for early-career writers and editors, in addition to new editorial initiatives.
Roxane Gay (left) and Debbie Millman, the new owners of the Rumpus. (Credit: Emmie America)
The Rumpus launched three new programs this year: a writing fellowship, an editorial fellowship, and micro-grants. Other programs like these exist within the literary ecosystem—A Public Space and Farrar, Straus and Giroux both have fellowships aimed at kick-starting early-career writers with mentorship and modest financial support, and PEN America has its U.S. Writers Aid Initiative, which offers micro-grants to writers in acute financial distress—but such opportunities are still few and far between, especially in an increasingly precarious landscape of arts funding.
The first round of fellows has already been announced, as has the first round of the Harnisch Microgrants Initiative, whose recipients were awarded $1,000 with no strings attached along with technology resources to assist their writing life. “One of the key things that we did,” Gay says, “is partner with Apple, and Apple contributed MacBook Neos to all of the ten micro-grant winners.” A second round of micro-grant applications will likely open in January 2027, while the next round of writing and editorial fellowships will probably open in early summer 2027. Writers who haven’t published a book and have five or fewer prose publications are eligible for the writing fellowship; the editorial fellowship is open to anyone with an interest in literary editing and requires twenty hours of work a week.
With these new initiatives injecting fresh energy into the online journal and its community, the future looks increasingly bright. Which isn’t to say that steering the Rumpus through its next chapter has been easy, of course. “Having edited magazines for many years, I did know how much work it was going to be,” Gay says, “but even then, it still kind of surprised me. It’s not about the big ideas, which are in some ways very easy because we have lots of ideas. It’s the execution and the details, contracts, making sure the writers get paid.”
Indeed, Gay and Millman increased the pay rate at the Rumpus, a decision the new owners say was easy. “The more difficult decision is how do we sustainably fund this?” Gay says. “One of the key things that’s missing in the art world is patronage,” she says, “which is what has sustained the arts to date for most people. We have modest means in terms of the Rumpus overall, but we certainly wanted to be able to create at least a small system of patronage.”
In addition to these new offerings, Gay and Millman have relaunched a book club that will now host monthly online author discussions, led by Millman, as well as audience Q&As. Writers featured so far include Ann Patchett, Tracy Lynne Oliver, Katie Kitamura, Emily Wilson, and Min Jin Lee. As for in-person events, Gay says, that kind of programming is definitely of interest. “But we want to do it with care, and we want to make sure that we’re not overextending ourselves,” she says.
A new editorial initiative of the journal is El Alboroto, which is dedicated to publishing original work in Spanish and creating a distinct space for Spanish-language writers. Led by editors Alejandra Márquez and Vasthi Jean-Michel, El Alboroto commissions and publishes original Spanish-language writing spanning cultural criticism, personal essays, interviews, fiction, poetry, and comics.
The Rumpus has also undergone a recent redesign, which was Millman’s primary focus when she and Gay became owners. A host of the long-running podcast Design Matters and a designer herself for many decades, Millman says, “Visual culture is super important to me. So that was really one of the first initiatives I knew we had to undertake: a new identity, a new navigation system, a new way of looking at the site, of experiencing the site.” She and Gay worked with Santiago Carrasquilla to achieve that vision. Carrasquilla’s work, Millman says, is a wonderful combination: “really experimental, edgy, [and] pioneering…but also highly, highly accessible.” This visual direction is in line with the kind of writing and art the Rumpus seeks to uplift—daring emerging voices alongside established talent.
Ilana Masad is the author of the novels Beings (Bloomsbury, 2025) and All My Mother’s Lovers (Dutton, 2020) and the coeditor of the anthology Here for All the Reasons: Why We Watch “The Bachelor” (Turner, 2026).
