11 Roxane Gay Essays and Stori You Need to Read Right Away

Contents:

• ROXANE GAY
• ROXANE GAY’S IMPRT OPENS DOORS
• WHAT TO READ IF YOU HAVEN'T YET READ ROXANE GAY
• ROXANE GAY ON HBO’S SHOW CONFERATE, MOST ANTHOLOGIZED POEMS, AND MORE
• THEATER VIO TAGS: ROXANE GAY
• ROXANE GAY’S COMPLITED “HUNGER”

ROXANE GAY

Roxane Gay liv and wr the Midwt, for now. In the past lerary polymath Roxane Gay has penned two story llectns, the say llectn Bad Femist, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, and the novel An Untamed State, all to acclaim. Now to this résumé she adds acquirg edor for a publishg hoe, as she brgs her acumen to helm Roxane Gay Books, a new imprt of Grove Atlantic announced and edor Roxane Gay announced news of her imprt May 2021.

(Cred: Reggie Cunngham)Roxane Gay Books will put out three tl a year, at least to start, wh the athetilly omnivoro Gay stg a wi terms of the submissns she’s seekg—story and say llectns, novels a variety of genr, as well as nonfictn and memoirs. ) What Gay is not necsarily lookg for is prr publishg experience, blurbs, a social media platform, an agent, an MFA, or a llege gree. In dispensg wh the requirements, Gay tends to ve submissns om wrers tradnally locked out of publishg opportuni: namely, people wh the talent and disciple to wre a powerful work of art but not the nnectns or opportuni that e wh beg llege ted, whe, upper middle class, or loted New York Cy, the dtry’s seat.

While the imprt’s submissns procs is liberately clive, Gay plans on brgg a clear and tentnal edorial pot-of-view to the mancripts she selects.

ROXANE GAY’S IMPRT OPENS DOORS

”“I’m gog to publish books that I love, ” Gay said a recent ll over Zoom, “and that I feel as an edor I n brg somethg valuable to. ”In addn to workg wh thors on eds and revisns, Gay will help them navigate their book lnch and beyond. She herself was grateful to receive guidance early on her reer om novelist Tayari Jon, who, Gay rells fondly, actually lled her on the phone to share dtry advice.

”This imprt is not the only way Gay is disptg typil dtry practic. A fellow will help her sift through submissns and will spl their time workg for Roxane Gay Books and rotatg through the edorial, publicy, marketg, and rights divisns at Grove Atlantic.

“They won’t jt be puttg together mailgs, ” says Amy Hundley, a vice print of Grove Atlantic, Gay’s own edor at the publisher, and Gay’s llaborator for the imprt.

WHAT TO READ IF YOU HAVEN'T YET READ ROXANE GAY

Hundley says that, over the years, she and Gay have often talked about the lack of diversy publishg, which is signifint part an enomic issue.

”Taken together, Roxane Gay Books and the Grove Atlantic fellowship is a small but important enavor to bat the chokehold of whe and upper-middle-class hegemony not jt the lerary marketplace, but behd the scen at the publishg-hoe level. But as Gay herself is the first to adm, this imprt, along wh a few others led by Black women, are not enough; on the Audacy she wrote we won’t see real change “until the dtry mak this kd of iative the le rather than the exceptn.

ROXANE GAY ON HBO’S SHOW CONFERATE, MOST ANTHOLOGIZED POEMS, AND MORE

”Still, Gay is exced to beg mostly and see what through the submissns, which opened this summer via Submtable; Gay plans to look at all of them.

This summer has been the summer of Roxane Gay, and the world is the better for .

As Gay told The Great Disntent, she started to publish her work "very refully" lerary journals the late '90s. And if all the chatter mak you want to dive to Gay's work, here are some fantastic says and stori by the wrer you n read now, for ee, to nvce you why you should be a Roxane Gay fangirl, Magaze: "Motherfuckers"A brief and quietly vastatg story about a kid named Gérard who mov to Ameri om Hai. Gay, who has Haian parents and grew up Nebraska “raised as a Haian-Amerin, ” imbu the short scen wh a potent mix of sendhand and firsthand sentence: “'Je te tte, ' he says.

THEATER VIO TAGS: ROXANE GAY

”BuzzFeed: "Not Here to Make Friends"The tle is a monly tmpeted battle cry for female realy petors, whether they’re fightg for a bachelor or a molg ntract, but Gay to ame her wish for more unlikeable female characters lerature. "xoJane: "My Body is Wildly Undiscipled and I Deny Myself Nearly Everythg I Dire"In the aftermath of this year’s Biggt Loser fale, which a nttant lost what many nsired to be an unhealthy amount of weight, Gay nsired her own relatnship to her body.

” She ticks off a list of ways she tri to make her “wildly undiscipled” body more acceptable — by wearg dark cloth, by not eatg junk food public, and by nyg herself over and over problem of body image Ameri is real, and Gay is not aaid to reveal the parts of herself that don’t f to the typil female weight loss narrative of privatn → thns → happs. ”New York Magaze: "The 10 Bt Books About Morn Virgs"Ask a normal person for a list of book remendatns, and you’ll (probably) get one, but ask Gay for a list of book remendatns and she’ll give you a genre-hoppg digt of lerature that registers pretty much across the board on the high-low culture matrix. ” A ton of those piec me out after he scribed g Twter as “like wrg a novel whout the letter P, ” and all of them said he was out of touch, a lame du who jt didn’t get , yadda yadda Here To BuyWhat set Gay’s piece apart was that she criqued Franzen for ignorg somethg important — wrers who aren’t as succsful as Franzen need Twter to promote their books, munite wh their fellow thors, and build a lerary work.

ROXANE GAY’S COMPLITED “HUNGER”

Gay’s bt advice about social media is to chill the F out. “Do somethg where you are willg to show that you give a damn, however you terpret givg a damn, ” Gay wr. '”The Hairp: "Adventur wh UPS Man"Those who follow Gay on Twter will know that she has an ongog flirtatn wh her UPS Man (whom she has sce moved away om — oh, the humany!

” Gay bemoans the lack of real, reprentative exampl of young adult women we have on televisn and the movi, referencg the new-at-the-time first season of Girls.