Katie O'Brien
The Rumpus
Ithaca, NY, United States
Contact Katie
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
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Past articles by Katie:
Written in Ink
In a powerful essay at The Establishment, Evelyn Deshane discusses rejecting the medical narrative around transitioning, and how tattoos allowed them to reclaim their own body: When the physicality… → Read More
Anti-Blackness in Sci-Fi Publishing
Less than two percent of science fiction stories published in 2015 were by black writers. And a recent study found that black speculative fiction writers face “universal” racism—more damning eviden… → Read More
Journalism’s Increasing Blind Spot
Barriers for entering journalism are only increasing; according to a report, journalism has “a greater degree of social exclusivity than any other profession”. The Guardian’s Harrison Jones argues … → Read More
Why Women Freelance More
More and more people are leaving the salaried workplace for the freelance economy. But it’s not necessarily by choice; at Bitch Magazine, Sarah Grey discusses how companies and labor policy push wo… → Read More
No Cure Necessary
At The Establishment, Mariah Ramsawakh discusses the damaging, unrealistic “miraculous cure” trope often found when the media portrays characters with disabilities: People with disabilities are tir… → Read More
Books on a Plane
A German airline has teamed up with the German book trade for a campaign called Buch an Bord (Book on Board) that allows each passenger to travel with an extra kg of weight just for books. Hear tha… → Read More
Welcome To The World Of Wakanda
Last week, the exciting news came out that Roxane Gay will be joining Ta-Nehisi Coates as a co-writer on the second Black Panther series, World of Wakanda. The New York Times looks at how the serie… → Read More
Flannel-Soaked Nostalgia
Is there any fabric more well-loved than flannel? At Vela Magazine, Sonya Huber discusses the significance wearing flannel had to her teenage self in the 1980s Midwest: Flannel hid the shape of a w… → Read More
Why We Love Witches
At The Establishment, Annie Theriault discusses the allure of witches and witchcraft for girls that has lingered since the 17th century, musing on how witches both subvert and uphold gender roles: … → Read More
The Privilege of Innocence
In a powerful essay at Electric Literature, Nicole Dennis-Benn writes on innocence as a privilege that is not afforded to black children: Truth is, there is nothing parents can do. There is nothing… → Read More
Roxane Gay on Resisting Numbness
There is a new name to add to this list—Alton B. Sterling, 37, killed by police officers in Baton Rouge, La. It is a bitter reality that there will always be a new name to that list. Black lives ma… → Read More
English Is Not Dying, You Elitists
Pop linguist Gretchen McCulloch unpacks the many wrongful assumptions about language behind the idea that emojis will cause the “death” of the English language: No, English is in ruddy good health.... → Read More
The Power of Zines
At The Establishment, Sara Century outlines the social and political power of zines throughout history, the state of the zine in the digital age, and the connection between zines and feminism today... → Read More
On Visibility and Middle-Aged Women
Over at Lit Hub, Dorthe Nors discusses writing about middle aged women who, on the verge of becoming invisible to a society that only values women as mothers or as sex objects, refuse to disappear:... → Read More
The Catch-22 of Representation
Heroine Complex author Sarah Kuhn writes on her impulse as a child to dislike Jubilee, the Marvel superhero she was “supposed” to identify with as an Asian-American woman, and the pressures of crea... → Read More
Bringing Asexuality to YA Fiction
Asexuality is often left out from discussions around queer visibility in pop culture. At Bitch Media, Lucy Mihajlich shares how she was told by an agent that her young adult dystopian trilogy, Inte... → Read More
Bringing Asexuality to YA Fiction
Asexuality is often left out from discussions around queer visibility in pop culture. At Bitch Media, Lucy Mihajlich shares how she was told by an agent that her young adult dystopian trilogy, Inte... → Read More
The Hell of Personal Writing
When I give lectures to writing students I tell them to not get discouraged if they do not enjoy writing. “I hate writing,” I say, “It’s horrible. It’s hell.” They are shocked every time, but I mea... → Read More
Unlikable and Unapologetic
Supposedly “unlikable” female characters are often the most complex, humanly flawed, and interesting ones—yet many readers are perturbed by such representations of women. In an excerpt from her col... → Read More
The Important Queerness Of Frog And Toad
At the New Yorker, Colin Stokes lauds the classic Frog and Toad’s “amphibious celebration of same-sex love” and discusses the ways in which it may have been inspired by Arnold Lobel’s life experien... → Read More