Roxane Gay and Debbie Millman have acquired the Rumpus from current owner and publisher Alyson Sinclair, effective May 1. In a statement, Sinclair called Gay and Millman, who are married, “writers and thought leaders I’ve admired for a long time,” adding: “Together, they are committed to staying true to the magazine’s core mission of publishing both emerging and established risk-taking writers and artists whose work might not receive care or a large audience elsewhere.”
Sinclair took over ownership of the largely volunteer-run publication in 2022 from Marisa Siegel, who departed to join Northwestern University Press as senior acquisitions editor for trade books and still serves as an editor-at-large. Sinclair had previously worked as a publicist at McSweeney's, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, and City Lights Publishers.
In her tenure at the Rumpus, which was first founded in 2009, Sinclair oversaw the redesign of its website, the launch of its membership program, and increases in contributor pay. Now, she said, the publication “is ready for its next phase, and this change is an opportunity for meaningful growth and an increasingly sustainable and secure future under Roxane and Debbie’s leadership.”
For Gay, who is a founding essays editor at the Rumpus, the move marks a homecoming of sorts. “It’s a truly full-circle moment to be acquiring the Rumpus alongside Debbie Millman,” she said in a statement. “The Rumpus was one of the first places where my writing found a significant audience, and it helped shape me into the writer I am today. I am excited to lead The Rumpus into its next chapter and am grateful for the stewardship of Alyson Sinclair, who did so much in recent years to help The Rumpus continue to thrive.”
Millman, a designer, writer, and educator, added: “I first became aware of Roxane Gay’s writing through the Rumpus and fell in love with her words. Now that I am married to her, it feels both serendipitous and thrilling to have this extraordinary opportunity, and I look forward to the magical things we will be able to make together.”
