The first three books om Roxane Gay’s imprt have been announced. ‹ Lerary Hub

Contents:

• ROXANE GAY STARTS PUBLISHG IMPRT WH GROVE ATLANTIC
• ROXANE GAY’S IMPRT OPENS DOORS
• ROXANE GAY
• THE FIRST THREE BOOKS OM ROXANE GAY’S IMPRT HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED.

ROXANE GAY STARTS PUBLISHG IMPRT WH GROVE ATLANTIC

Books|Roxane Gay Starts Publishg Imprt Wh Grove Atlantic ADVERTISEMENTRoxane Gay Books will foc on unrreprented fictn, nonfictn and memoir wrers, wh or whout CunnghamRoxane Gay wears many hats — profsor, edor, social mentator, advice lumnist — but she is perhaps most wily known as a bt-sellg wrer, whose books clu the say llectn “Bad Femist” and a memoir, “Hunger. Roxane Gay Books will be part of Grove Atlantic, the publishg hoe announced Wednday, wh plans to release three tl a year, a mix of fictn, nonfictn and memoir, and a foc on unrreprented has published books before, she said a phone terview, though on a very small sle. It has published Gay’s fictn sce 2014, startg wh her first novel, “An Untamed State.

”Grove also said Wednday that plans to offer a paid, one-year fellowship program that would serve as a crash urse publishg, for applints whout accs to such jobs through tradnal will select and ed the books her imprt publish, but she will also work closely on the projects wh Amy Hundley, an executive edor at Grove who eds Gay’s work.

Hundley said that Gay’s eye for talent, addn to the talent she herself posss, was enormoly appealg to Grove. 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.

ROXANE GAY’S IMPRT OPENS DOORS

(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.

”“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.

ROXANE GAY

”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. 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.

THE FIRST THREE BOOKS OM ROXANE GAY’S IMPRT HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED.

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. ”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. In "Bad Femist, " her 2014 book of says, Roxane Gay laid out a wise, funny and eply empathetic visn of morn femism, acceptance and inty — flaws and all.

Roxane Gay is a novelist and sayist whose onle says you've probably had forward to you by someone you adore. Kira Cochrane The Guardian puts rrectly: "In prt, on Twter and person, Gay has the voice of the iend you ll first for advice, lm and sane as well as funny, someone who has seen a lot and tak no prisoners.