Robbie Maakestad

I'm pumped to be reading at the @therumpus.net offsite #AWP26 event with @roxanegay.bsky.social, @poetpatriciasmith.bsky.social, @lydiamwrites.bsky.social, @anneliesz.bsky.social & others. Free food, free drinks (for first 80 guests), outstanding writers!

We're gearing up for AWP 2026 in Baltimore!

Find us at BOOTH 1240, and click through to learn more about our Flash Fiction contest and offsite event with @roxanegay.bsky.social, @poetpatriciasmith.bsky.social, @robbiemaakestad.bsky.social, @lydiamwrites.bsky.social & more.

➡️ buff.ly/g6CdKGw

Knott’s Berry Farm, 1996 - The Rumpus At thirteen, we were not afraid to speak aloud what we already knew—we would rather die than let them see the secrets of our bodies exposed. They had taught us enough about hiya, that we feared the we...

I’m deeply proud to share my essay, “Knott’s Berry Farm, 1996.” Thanks so much to @therumpus.net for their continued support of my writing. This essay is 30 years in the making and a love letter to the time, to the age, to all the girls, and to that place, Knott’s 1996.

Point Loma Nazarene University | Ticketing - (LIVESTREAM) Conversation and Q&A with Jamaica Kincaid Writer's Symposium by the Sea: (LIVESTREAM) Conversation and Q&A with Jamaica KincaidThursday, Feb. 26, 2026 at 3:00 PM Workshop and Q&A with Jamaica KincaidJamaica Kincaid is an Antiguan-American wri...

$5 livestreamed Q&A with Jamaica Kincaid this afternoon via the @plnuwritingma.bsky.social Visiting Writers Series!!!

plnu.universitytickets.com/w/event.aspx...

It adds some nice tension to the Olympics coverage if you imagine that Mike Tirico isn’t allowed to leave the NBC studio set. That miniature chaise lounge??? THEY MAKE HIM SLEEP ON IT. That tiny half folded accent blanket??? HIS ONLY SOURCE OF WARMTH.

What They Don’t Teach You About Collapse - The Rumpus The particular form of governance being implemented in Gaza has a shape to it. It’s recognizable if you know what to look for. It's the same shape that appeared in other places, at other times: the ar...

If you read one essay this week, make it this one by Hazem Almassry at @therumpus.net about how academic language obfuscates the system of violence Israel is enacting in Gaza. #RumpusEssays therumpus.net/2026/01/21/w...

Hey thanks, Karen! I learn so much from these students!

Fin.

01.20.26 - Judith Kitchen's Digression Exercise JUDITH KITCHEN’S DIGRESSION EXERCISE The goal of this exercise is to get you out of your head. If you have zero idea of what to write next, maybe this will spark something. You should aim to tell a co...

8) We ran out of time, so I sent students with a take-home writing exercise that I modified from Judith Kitchen's "The Art of Digression" from @rosemetalpress.bsky.social's Guide to Flash Nonfiction. Do the exercise here: docs.google.com/presentation...

7) We discussed the ways that digression functions in the assigned texts.

01.20.26 - ACTIVITY HANDOUT - Digression in Mike Nagel's DUPLEX & CULDESAC Activity (20 mins): With your partner, pick one of the narrative/image threads from the list your instructor provided (preferably a longer, more significant thread). Quickly reread/skim the narrative ...

6) Students traced one longer series of digressions/narrative threads/recurrent jokes across @misternagel.bsky.social's text using this activity handout: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

01.20.26 - NARRATIVE STRUCTURE HANDOUT - Mike Nagel's DUPLEX & CULDESAC Narrative Structure in Mike Nagel’s DUPLEX and CULDESAC DUPLEX: Heirs to Jack in the Box: Pg. 5, pg. 9, pg. 11, pg. 15 Nissan Sentra: Pg. 5, pg. 80, pg. 81 Escaping locked rooms: Pg. 5, pg. 8 “Floats ...

5) In pairs, we dug into @misternagel.bsky.social's digressions/narrative threads/recurrent jokes in DUPLEX and CULDESAC, which I mapped here: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Nonfiction | Rose Metal Press The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Nonfiction

4) I also touched passed out Judith Kitchen's "The Art of Digression" from @rosemetalpress.bsky.social's Guide to Flash Nonfiction. Buy it here: rosemetalpress.com/books/the-ro...

Vivian Wagner, "Crafting Digression: Interactivity and Gamification in Creative Nonfiction" (5.1) ASSAY: A JOURNAL OF NONFICTION STUDIES 5.1

3) We read Vivian Wagner's “Crafting Digression: Interactivity and Gamification in Creative Nonfiction” from @assayjournal.bsky.social. www.assayjournal.com/vivian-wagne...

2) We discussed the various forms and functions of humor across the texts we'd read.

Andy Harper, "The Joke's On Me: The Role of Self-Deprecating Humor in Personal Narrative" (1.1) ASSAY: A JOURNAL OF NONFICTION STUDIES 1.1

1) We read @aharper16.bsky.social's “The Joke’s On Me: The Role of Self-Deprecating Humor in Personal Narrative” from @assayjournal.bsky.social. www.assayjournal.com/andy-harper-...

The other books I passed around, used as examples, or pulled from for the lesson.

In my grad workshop I taught Jamaica Kincaid's A SMALL PLACE alongside @misternagel.bsky.social's DUPLEX, CULDESAC, and his LITTLE ENGINES The Unintentionalist column. We examined humor writing and the art of digression in nonfiction. Here's my lesson plan:

Today when we arrived at the MLKJ parade, my four-year-old shouted “MARTIN LUTHER KING PARADE JR.”

FIN.

The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Nonfiction | Rose Metal Press The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Writing Flash Nonfiction

9) Read Barbara Hurd’s “The Sounds and Sense of Sentences” from @rosemetalpress.bsky.social’s Field Guide to Writing Flash Nonfiction. Buy it here: rosemetalpress.com/books/the-ro...

Nonfiction Craft Capsule: Elena Passarello YouTube video by poetsandwriters

8) Discussed Passarello's thoughts on research as a syntactic tool from her @pw.org lecture: youtu.be/E5q6ObCGt5c?...

01.13.26 - Sixteen Little Research Nonfictions Exercise SIXTEEN LITTLE RESEARCH NONFICTIONS EXERCISE The goal of this exercise is to get you out of your head. If you have zero idea of what to write next, maybe this will spark something. You should aim to t...

7) Did this 20 minute research topic brainstorming exercise: docs.google.com/presentation...

Thank You, Magical (But Horrible) World: An Interview with Elena Passarello - Tin House Talking to Elena Passarello is like talking to a human Wikipedia, but one that sings and leaps to show its excitement for the subject at hand. Before attending the Nonfiction Writing Program at the Un...

6) Discussed Passarello's thoughts on writing the unexpected ending from this 2017 @tinhouse.bsky.social interview: tinhouse.com/thank-you-ma...

Interview with Elena Passarello — the interlochen review

5) Discussed Passarello's thoughts on writing research to embody the personal from a 2014 interview at Interlochen Review. www.interlochenreview.org/interview-wi...

Nonfiction Craft Capsule: Elena Passarello YouTube video by poetsandwriters

4) Discussed Passarello's @pw.org lecture from 2015 on the two main things that research allows in nonfiction: youtu.be/E5q6ObCGt5c?...

Miles Harvey, "The Two Inmates: ​Research in Creative Nonfiction and the Power of “Outer Feeling”" (5.1) ASSAY: A JOURNAL OF NONFICTION STUDIES 5.1

3) Read Miles Harvey's “The Two Inmates: Research in Creative Nonfiction and the Power of the “Outer Feeling” from @assayjournal.bsky.social. www.assayjournal.com/miles-harvey...

Stella Shouting Contest in New Orleans based on classic Hollywood scene YouTube video by NEWS CENTER Maine

2) Watched Passarello's winning Stella scream: youtu.be/YrbPbx3gLCk?...

Let Me Clear My Throat, Elena Passarello — SARABANDE BOOKS Book Riot , "10 of the Best Essay Collections" Passarello’s essays dissect the whys and hows of popular voices, making them hum with significance and emotion. There’s Dean’s scream, Brando’s “Stella...

Here's my lesson plan:
1) Discussed our craft thoughts about LMCMT. Buy it here from @sarabandebooks.bsky.social: www.sarabandebooks.org/all-titles/p....

Yesterday I had a blast teaching @elenavox.bsky.social's LET ME CLEAR MY THROAT in my grad CNF workshop. Picture 2 is of the books I passed around/used in the class period.