ABOUT — ROSS GAY

Contents:

• ROSS GAY
• IN ROSS GAY’S ‘INCG JOY,’ HAPPS DON’T EXIST A VACUUM
• ROSS GAY ON CG JOY WHILE DG WH SORROW
• MSU HOSTS ACCLAIMED THOR ROSS GAY FOR ANNUAL WRER--RINCE PROGRAM
• ROSS GAY
• ENRE: ROSS GAY WR 'THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS'

ROSS GAY

Today, we're stg down wh the wrer Ross Gay. So many thgs light Ross Gay: handma fy srv and loerg, the joy of rryg a heavy bag between two people, paw paws and even weeds. This summer, I reread yet aga and found myself medatg on a sire Gay had voiced: wantg to be softer a world so ready to sharpen and to make hard.

IN ROSS GAY’S ‘INCG JOY,’ HAPPS DON’T EXIST A VACUUM

So, a recent terview, I talked to Gay about that sire, as well as the role of joy daily life, the difficulty of allowg yourself to be moved, and why he thks 's important to e the word "love." Our nversatn has been eded and nnsed for clary.

There’s an say Ross Gay’s new llectn, Incg Joy, that begs wh a discsn of his favore sports book, John Edgar Wiman’s Hoop Roots, a memoir told through the thor’s lifelong relatnship wh basketball. Over the next eleven pag, Gay, a longtime hoop lover himself, offers a medatn on the bety of the pickup game, and how a good urt is a microsm of mocracy. “There is only , ten of at a time (pendg on the urt), assemblg and disassemblg and reassemblg, perpetual negotiatn of the l, perpetual mon wonr of how we’re gog to be together today.”Gay, a 48-year-old poet and profsor at Indiana Universy, has ma a reer of explorg the wonr to be found our everyday liv, notably his btsellg 2019 say llectn, The Book of Delights.

ROSS GAY ON CG JOY WHILE DG WH SORROW

Which is also to say that everyone has the pacy for joy.”Book ver of “Incg Joy” by Ross Gay.Courty of Ross GayGQ: A word that up aga and aga your work is the word practice. What’s the signifince of that word to you?Ross Gay: I started to thk about that word when I was dog The Book of Delights. Ross Gay is terted Gay wants to unrstand Gay is cur about Gay studi joy.

MSU HOSTS ACCLAIMED THOR ROSS GAY FOR ANNUAL WRER--RINCE PROGRAM

~Ross Gay is the thor of four books of poetry: Agast Which; Brgg the Shovel Down; Be Holdg, wner of the PEN Amerin Lerary Jean Ste Award; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratu, wner of the 2015 Natnal Book Crics Circle Award and the 2016 Kgsley Tufts Poetry Award. The first le of the b on Ross Gay’s webse reads, “Ross Gay is terted joy.

” This will be unsurprisg to his many loyal rears for whom Gay has bee a hoehold name recent years.

It clus short says om a year Gay spent wrg an say a day about somethg that lighted him, and n fairly be lled a fort read; although actively engag the sorrow of life, s foc is noticg the betiful and lightful the everyday. Now, Gay is back wh a send say llectn that ntu his quiry to joy: “Incg Joy. I spoke wh Gay over Zoom about the ternnectedns of sorrow and joy; his digrsive wrg style; and the sctive yet lazy e of words like “privilege.

ROSS GAY

Ross Gay, Algonqu, 256 pp., $27. Ross Gay on cg joy while dg wh sorrow. In his latt llectn of says, Incg Joy, poet Ross Gay rensirs the breadth of joy, argug that n be found – and even strengthened – life's harst moments, when we mt rely on one another.

This week, host Brtany Le ss down wh Gay to discs the plexy of joy, the bety of grace and creatg meang life. —Mississippi State Universy is hostg award-wng thor Ross Gay for an upg virtual wrer--rince program, an annual mp event of the College of Arts and Scienc.

ENRE: ROSS GAY WR 'THE BOOK OF DELIGHTS'

Gay is thor of the New York Tim bt-sellg llectn of says “The Book of Delights” (Algonqu Books, 2019), as well as several llectns of poetry, cludg “Catalog of Unabashed Gratu” (2015), wner of the 2015 Natnal Book Crics Circle Award and the 2016 Kgsley Tufts Poetry Award.