Roxane Gay facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Roxane Gay
Gay in 2014
Born	(1974-10-15) October 15, 1974 (age 50) Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Occupation	Professor, writer
Education	Yale University Norwich University (BA) University of Nebraska–Lincoln (MA) Michigan Technological University (PhD)
Genres	Novel, short story, criticism
Spouse	Debbie Millman ​ (m. 2020)​
Relatives	Claudine Gay (cousin)
Scientific career
Fields	Communication studies
Thesis	Subverting the subject position: toward a new discourse about students as writers and engineering students as technical communicators (2010)
Doctoral advisor	Ann Brady

Roxane Gay (born October 15, 1974) is an American writer, professor, and editor. She is known for her powerful books and essays. Roxane Gay has written several popular books. These include Bad Feminist (2014), a collection of essays. She also wrote the novel An Untamed State (2014). Her short story collection Difficult Women (2017) is also well-known. Another important book is her memoir Hunger (2017).

Gay is a professor at Rutgers University. She holds the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture and Feminist Studies. Before this, she taught at Eastern Illinois University and Purdue University. She was also a visiting professor at Yale University.

She writes opinion pieces for The New York Times. Roxane Gay also founded Tiny Hardcore Press. She was an essays editor for The Rumpus. She also edited Gay Mag, which she started with Medium.

Early Life and Education

Roxane Gay was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Her parents, Michael and Nicole Gay, are from Haiti. Her mother was a homemaker. Her father owns a concrete company in Haiti. Roxane Gay is a cousin of Claudine Gay.

She grew up in the Catholic faith. She spent her summers visiting family in Haiti. Gay went to high school at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. She started writing essays when she was a teenager. Her parents supported her through college. They also helped her with rent until she was 30 years old.

Gay started her college studies at Yale University. However, she left during her third year. She later finished her undergraduate degree at Vermont College of Norwich University. She also earned a master's degree in creative writing. This degree was from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

In 2010, Gay earned her Ph.D. from Michigan Technological University. Her Ph.D. is in Rhetoric and Technical Communication. Her main project was about how students write. It also looked at how engineering students communicate technically.

What Roxane Gay Does

After getting her Ph.D., Roxane Gay began teaching in 2010. She was an assistant professor of English at Eastern Illinois University. While there, she helped edit Bluestem magazine. She also started Tiny Hardcore Press. She taught at Eastern Illinois University until 2014.

From 2014 to 2018, she was a professor at Purdue University. She taught creative writing there. In 2018, she left Purdue. She felt her pay was not fair. For a short time in 2019, she was a visiting professor at Yale University. In 2022, she joined Rutgers University. She became a special professor focusing on media, culture, and feminist studies.

Gay published her short-story collection, Ayiti, in 2011. Then, in 2014, she released two more books. These were the novel An Untamed State and the essay collection Bad Feminist. A review in Time magazine said her writing is clear and direct. It also said she writes about difficult topics in an easy-to-understand way.

In 2021, Gay announced she was starting her own book publishing line. It is called Roxane Gay Books. It is part of Grove Atlantic. The first books from her imprint were announced in 2023.

Important Projects

An Untamed State

In 2014, Roxane Gay published her first novel, An Untamed State. The story is about Mireille Duval Jameson. She is a Haitian-American woman who is kidnapped. The book explores themes like family and the immigrant experience. People often call An Untamed State a fairy tale. This is because of its style and how it looks at the idea of the American dream.

The Guardian called it a "breathtaking debut novel." The Washington Post said it was a "smart, searing novel."

Gay being interviewed in 2015

Bad Feminist

Gay's collection of essays, Bad Feminist, came out in 2014. It was very popular and became a New York Times best-seller. The essays talk about cultural and political topics. A Time magazine reviewer called Bad Feminist "a manual on how to be human."

In an interview, Gay explained her role as a feminist. She said the book shows how feminism affects her life. She also said it shows "what it's like to move through the world as a woman." She added that it's about "humanity and empathy."

Critic Kira Cochrane from The Guardian praised Gay's writing. She said Gay's writing is thoughtful and can see different viewpoints. She described Gay as someone who offers calm and funny advice.

World of Wakanda

In 2016, Roxane Gay and poet Yona Harvey became writers for Marvel Comics. They worked on World of Wakanda. This comic book series was a spin-off from the Black Panther comics. They were the first black women to be lead writers for Marvel. Six issues of the comic were published.

Black Panther: World of Wakanda was praised for showing LGBTQ characters. The comic followed two characters, Aneka and Ayo. They were former members of the Dora Milaje, the Black Panther's security force. The series showed their adventures.

The series ended in 2017. Marvel did not give an official reason for stopping the series. However, some believed it was related to comments about "diversity titles" not selling well.

Difficult Women

In 2017, Gay published Difficult Women. This book is a collection of short stories. It focuses on women who live lives that are different from what society expects. Each story follows a unique character. It shows their journey through tough experiences or what makes them stand out.

Hunger

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body was released in June 2017. In this book, Gay shares her experiences with weight and body image. She talks about building a healthy relationship with food. The book is split into two parts: "The Before" and "The After." Critics praised the memoir. They called it "remarkable" and "ferociously honest."

After her book tour for Hunger, Gay said talking about the book was hard. She felt people did not know how to talk about being fat. She mentioned an interview where she felt treated badly. She said it showed how people can be careless about fat people's dignity. She hoped it helped people understand why she wrote the book.

Gay Magazine

Medium asked Gay in 2017 to start an online magazine. This magazine would focus on cultural criticism. It would also pay writers. The online publication was produced with Medium's Deputy Editor Laura June. The first issue came out in April 2019. In May 2019, Gay and Medium officially launched Gay Magazine.

The magazine was also known as GAY The Magazine—The Best Stories About Culture. It also went by Gay Mag. The magazine published quarterly themed editions. The final issue of Medium's Gay Magazine was about 'Power'. It was posted in April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gay said she wanted to create a space for many voices. She wanted writers to be paid fairly. She felt that money in digital media often stays at the top. She was happy to have Medium's support to pay writers well.

Unruly Bodies

In April 2018, Gay worked with Medium again. They created a month-long online magazine called Unruly Bodies. This magazine explored how people feel about their bodies. It was a collection of essays by 25 writers, including Gay.

Gay asked the writers, "What does it mean to live in an unruly body?" Her book Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body had explored similar ideas. Gay was surprised by the variety of responses. Writers wrote about gender, size, and other topics. She felt it showed she chose good writers.

The Banks

In December 2019, TKO Studios released The Banks by Gay. The Banks is a thrilling story about thieves in Chicago. It focuses on the women of the Banks family. In 2020, TKO Studios announced a partnership with Macro. They plan to make a film based on the graphic novel. Roxane Gay will write the screenplay and be an executive producer.

The Audacity

In January 2021, Gay started her newsletter, The Audacity. It features essays by her and new writers every two weeks. It also has The Audacious Book Club. This club highlights new books by American writers who are often not widely recognized. Some featured books include Black Futures and Detransition, Baby.

Other Projects

Gay was the editor of The Butter. This was an online feminist writing site. It was connected to The Toast. She worked there from November 2014 to August 2015. The Butter featured writing on many topics. Gay stopped working there because she was too busy.

She was a columnist for the U.S. Guardian from 2015 to 2018. In 2017, Gay was a guest judge and editor for The Masters Review. This is an annual fiction collection.

Gay was featured on This American Life in 2016. She talked about her body and how people see her as a fat person. In 2017, Gay decided not to publish her book How to Be Heard. It was supposed to be published by TED Books. She disagreed with another author getting a book deal from the same publisher.

Her writing has appeared in many places. These include Best American Mystery Stories 2014 and Best American Short Stories 2012. She has also written for The New York Times Book Review and Time. She contributed to the 2019 book Daughters of Africa.

In 2016, Gay was in the book In the Company of Women. This book shares inspiration from many creative women. In 2019, Gay started a book club on HBO's Vice News Tonight.

In 2019, Gay and Tressie McMillan Cottom started a podcast. It was called Hear To Slay. It featured important black women as guests. In 2022, the podcast was relaunched as The Roxane Gay Agenda.

In 2022, Gay worked with Baron Fig on a notebook. It was designed to help people with their writing. In 2023, she shared that she has been experiencing writer's block for five years.

Themes in Her Work

Much of Roxane Gay's writing looks at and breaks down ideas about feminism and race. She explores these topics deeply in her books and essays.

Personal Life

Roxane Gay became engaged to artist and writer Debbie Millman in October 2019. They got married in August 2020.

Roxane Gay is 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) tall.

Awards and Honors

In 2020, Queerty named Gay one of fifty heroes. This was in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ Pride parade. She was recognized for leading the nation toward equality. She was also on the 2022 Fast Company Queer 50 list.

Images for kids

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  Gay being interviewed in 2015

See also

In Spanish: Roxane Gay para niños