In the book we get to know Roxane Gay, a bisexual Haitian American woman who having survived academia to achieve her PhD is now an Associate Professor of English at Purdue University. This summer Gay’s book of essays, Bad Feminist (Harper Perennial, 2014)-culled largely from her prodigious online archive-was released, becoming a touchstone text for those who understand that life is (to borrow a word from the interview below) messy. Holly Bass of The New York Times wrote, “In this fable, the princess and a wicked witch relate to each other as real women do, and ultimately rescue each other.” This year saw the release of her first novel, An Untamed State (Grove Atlantic, 2014) which garnered strong reviews.
Her work appears everywhere, including The Guardian, Twelve Stories, XO Jane, Salon, and The Rumpus (where she is also the essays editor). Roxane Gay: On Messiness, Not Belonging, and What Being Queer Taught Her About Being a (Bad) Feministįrom covering pop culture, to writing beautifully crafted short stories Roxane Gay has long been a prolific online presence.
