The Audacious Roundup

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 I had the pleasure of sitting on Crissle’s Couch! We had a delightful conversation. I’m not sure why my sound is so whack but it’s fine. IT’s FINE! On May 2nd, I’m hosting a one-day memoir writing conference called Writing a Life. Our keynote speaker is Kimberlé Crenshaw and there will be workshops from Alexander Chee, Mira Jacob, Lauren Hough, Kelly Sundberg, Savala Nolan, and Mary H.K. Choi. It is $100 (lunch included) and space is limited. For my Australian readers, I will be back in Sydney on June 12th, in conversation with Narelda Jacobs! Tickets here! On June 18th, I am joining Hope for Haiti in a fundraiser for their capital campaign to build a new medical campus in Haiti. They are a wonderful organization and my dad is on their board and I am so impressed with the work they do AND that all of their clinics and operations in Haiti are run by Haitians. If you want to support this campaign, please consider a ticket or table (if you have the scratch), and enjoy an evening of conversation, Haitian food, and music! 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. Book and project links: Books I’ve Written, RGB Imprint Titles, Rebind: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton; The Forgotten Occupation. READING MATERIAL A hard look at the Supreme Court’s “shadow docket,” which is exactly as shady as it sounds. Kash Patel is having a pretty bad week and is suing The Atlantic for $250 million! LOL. Bro. Trump, in his infinite wisdom, is attacking the Pope. After 16 years, Viktor Orbán was voted out of office. Reps. Tony Gonzalez and Eric Swalwell have resigned from Congress. Dr. Cerina Fairfax was murdered by her trash ass husband, who then ended his own life. May she rest in power. In Shreveport, LA, a devastating mass shooting where a man murdered eight children, most of them his, and also shot and injured two women. And in Mt. Vernon, NY, a woman killed by her boyfriend. The singer D4vd has been arrested and is facing murder charges for allegedly killing a 14-year-old girl. A FL teenager has been charged with assaulting and murdering his stepsister on a Carnival Cruise. MEN! MEN ARE THE PROBLEM! STICK THEM IN RICE! AGAIN! Mayor Mamdani is following through on his campaign promise to open a public grocery store. In Haiti, a tragic stampede at The Citadel. There will be a regime change at Apple! Reese Witherspoon wants us to get into AI, because feminism. Or something like that. Nope. This is not impressive. A robot has no physical needs. There are some issues with the new New Museum addition. NYC doormen have reached an agreement with building owners. Power to the people. In downtown LA, the owner of Clifton’s is giving up BUT what’s weird is that he claims the police in LA have been defunded. They have not. They have literally been REfunded. Excessively funded. Their budget is massive. Here’s a mystery: Why did the NYT write this in-depth, adoring profile of Lauren Sanchez-Bezos as she talks about how happy she is and how much she loves being ultra wealthy? Who is this for? For the right price, you can get cozy with a microcelebrity! Another mystery: Allbirds, yes the shoe company, is pivoting to AI. Why? How? What? An unsolved mystery, solved. QVC is on the struggle bus. Restaurants are struggling to hire dishwashers because of immigration and maybe even low wages and the like. Fascinating to see Dave Chappelle saying he “resents” Republicans are weaponizing his transphobic jokes. On the habits we can’t bring ourselves to break. A review of Lena Dunham’s new memoir Famesick. I’m presently reading it and it’s well-written and I have thoughts. Perhaps I will share them at a later date. I have to finish the book first. The Playboy interview with Nia Long, perpetually fine. A conversation with Emma Grede. A conversation with Rachel Khong. A conversation with Shawn Hatosy. It’s a sad day for lesbians. Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird are ending their relationship. Chelsea Clinton ran a marathon! The Boston Marathon, in fact. More World Cup grifting. Not even public transportation is immune. A writer spends a month dabbling in the trad wife life. Coachella second weekend! And someone stole Madonna’s outfit! RIP Iris Long. RIP Patrick Muldoon. RIP Hampshire College. If you like restaurant bread (free), you will enjoy this expansive essay from Caity Weaver. The tale of a very popular mohel. Goop To Go is coming to NYC. If you want to imagine what life on Mars is like, there’s a place for that. A fascinating essay on the placelessness of a warehouse, and how these vast spaces are used and misused. Rainbow Rowell writes about her new novel (ish) and why she’s hesitant to take GLP-1s. Novelists on writing true. On Eating, a new book from Alicia Kennedy, is out now, and there’s an excerpt in her newsletter, which I highly recommend. BookCon happened. Will it go on? We shall see. The 2026 Guggenheim fellows have been announced. Congrats to all! Behind the scenes of The Pitt. The Studio Museum is accepting applications until mid-May. What it’s like to leave the U.S. and live abroad. A conversation with Veronica Roth who is returning to the world of Divergent. A conversation with Tracey Emin. The Pride Flag flies again at The Stonewall Inn. This looks like a fun house. THE RUMPUS WEEK IN REVIEW Essays: The Age of Nightmares by Jazmina Barrera Fiction: Infestation by Anjali Sachdeva Poetry: DRAB AS A F OOL, AS A LOOF AS A BARD by David Joez Villaverde Magdalena by Katherine Maris Paltrineri Two Poems by Katie Naughton Two Poems by Steve Scafidi Interviews: A Conversation with Ramona Ausubel by Jennifer Cho Salaf A Conversation with Caro Claire Burke by Liz Button The First Book: Avery Curran by Avery Curran A Conversation with Camille T. Dungyby Tryphena Yeboah