Roxane Gay

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Roxane Gay

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Roxane Gay’s writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. She is the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, the New York Times bestselling Bad Feminist, the nationally bestselling Difficult Women and the New York Times bestselling Hunger. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel. She has several books forthcoming and is also at work on television and film projects. Her newsletter, The Audacity, where she also hosts The Audacious Book Club, can be found at audacity.substack. ...more

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Roxane Gay I will send Channing Tatum a whole lot more than that.
Roxane Gay I live in the middle of nowhere, I don't have children, I'm an insomniac, I love writing, I'm motivated, writing is often self-medication. …moreI live in the middle of nowhere, I don't have children, I'm an insomniac, I love writing, I'm motivated, writing is often self-medication. (less)
Average rating: 4.05 · 360,530 ratings · 42,398 reviews · 133 distinct worksSimilar authors
Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body

4.17 avg rating — 122,215 ratings — published 2017 — 73 editions
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Bad Feminist

3.92 avg rating — 119,733 ratings — published 2014 — 3 editions
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Difficult Women

3.95 avg rating — 30,418 ratings — published 2017 — 31 editions
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Not That Bad: Dispatches fr...

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4.43 avg rating — 22,940 ratings — published 2018 — 29 editions
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An Untamed State

4.07 avg rating — 19,773 ratings — published 2014 — 30 editions
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Ayiti

4.26 avg rating — 8,335 ratings — published 2011 — 14 editions
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Graceful Burdens

4.03 avg rating — 5,724 ratings — published 2020 — 4 editions
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Opinions: A Decade of Argum...

3.98 avg rating — 4,029 ratings — published 2023 — 13 editions
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Black Panther: World of Wak...

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3.75 avg rating — 3,003 ratings — published 2017 — 2 editions
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The Best American Short Sto...

3.98 avg rating — 2,066 ratings — published 2018 — 5 editions
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The Writing Life
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Roxane’s Recent Updates

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A Hymn to Life by Gisèle Pelicot
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This is one of those books that really makes you question humanity but also admire what resilience makes possible. Pelicot offers her story up here in ways that are beautiful and at times, confounding. To be clear, I have a staggering amount of respe ...more
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The Death of a Greek Lover by David Plante
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A hauntingly gorgeous epic poem about love and grief. Oh, the quiet sorrow carved from these words. Oh, the memories of a long and lasting love, held with such care. A lovely little book.
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Black Lake by Emily Skaja
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These poems relentlessly convey the overwhelm of grief in ways that are truly breathtaking. This is an incredibly accomplished collection.
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The Dissidents by Derf Backderf
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Derf Backderf's The Dissidents, reminds us, in no uncertain terms, that history does, indeed, repeat itself. In this graphic novel, based on all-to-real events, iGerman immigrant and political cartoonist Joe Hertle moves to NYC's East Village where h ...more
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The Book of Alice by Diamond Forde
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I love a fully realized poetry collection and The Book of Alice is one such. The project here is so thoughtfully, powerfully executed and I'm so glad to have read this. ...more
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Monster of a Land by Lauren  Hough
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I am a wee bit biased because (unbeknownst to me when I started the book), my hilarious little dog Max makes an appearance toward the end. But beyond that, my goodness, what a sophomore effort from Lauren Hough. This is a road trip memoir, sure, but ...more
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Monster of a Land by Lauren  Hough
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I am a wee bit biased because (unbeknownst to me when I started the book), my hilarious little dog Max makes an appearance toward the end. But beyond that, my goodness, what a sophomore effort from Lauren Hough. This is a road trip memoir, sure, but ...more
Roxane rated a book it was amazing
American Hagwon by Min Jin Lee
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There are meticulous, beautifully crafted layers to Min Jin Lee's latest novel, American Hagwon. It is, on the surface, an engrossing story about a Korean family and their resilience as forces beyond the control alter the trajectory of their lives. B ...more
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Heated Rivalry by Rachel  Reid
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This was fun, sexy, full of hockey and light on... depth but THAT IS OKAY. The book understood the assignment. Ilya is more compelling as a character, seems to have more depth and also is so secretly kind and passionate. I'm into it.

As an aside, the
...more
Roxane rated a book really liked it
Heated Rivalry by Rachel  Reid
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This was fun, sexy, full of hockey and light on... depth but THAT IS OKAY. The book understood the assignment. Ilya is more compelling as a character, seems to have more depth and also is so secretly kind and passionate. I'm into it.

As an aside, the
...more
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Quotes by Roxane Gay  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“I embrace the label of bad feminist because I am human. I am messy. I’m not trying to be an example. I am not trying to be perfect. I am not trying to say I have all the answers. I am not trying to say I’m right. I am just trying—trying to support what I believe in, trying to do some good in this world, trying to make some noise with my writing while also being myself.”
Roxane Gay, Bad Feminist

“I believe feminism is grounded in supporting the choices of women even if we wouldn’t make certain choices for ourselves.”
Roxane Gay, Bad Feminist: Essays

“It’s hard to be told to lighten up because if you lighten up any more, you’re going to float the fuck away.”
Roxane Gay, Bad Feminist: Essays

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“There is no reason for you to try to become like white people and there is no basis whatever for their impertinent assumption that they must accept you. The terrible thing, old buddy, is that you must accept them. And I mean that very seriously. You must accept them and accept them with love. For these innocent people have no other hope. They are, in effect, still trapped in a history which they do not understand; and until they understand it, they cannot be released from it. They have had to believe for many years, and for innumerable reasons, that black men are inferior to white men. Many of them, indeed, know better, but, as you will discover, people find it very difficult to act on what they know.”
James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time

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message 9: by modes

modes so happy you're coming to pittsburgh and looking forward to speaking with you soon (i'm with the city paper and your publicist has been kind enough to help facilitate an interview)! absolutely loving "difficult women."


Roxane Thank you, Evelyn!

Evelyn wrote: "I just wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying An Untamed State. I am reading it for my book club so I'm torn between wanting to read it very slowly and carefully, taking time to digest all t..."


Evelyn I just wanted to let you know how much I am enjoying An Untamed State. I am reading it for my book club so I'm torn between wanting to read it very slowly and carefully, taking time to digest all the tidbits, and wanting to devour it all in one sitting. I am completely enthralled (at the half-way point) and so eager to continue reading; I can already tell this will be one of my favorite books of the year! :)


message 6: by R.B.

R.B. Anderson Hi Roxanne,
An Untamed State sound like a powerful read and I have added it to my Want list.

Thank you for befriending me.
RBA


message 5: by Dean

Dean Pusell Thank you for being my friend Roxane :))). Peace


Jaimie Teekell I don't tumbl, so I have no way of commenting to yours though I'm subscribed via RSS. As a single writer living alone who feels like she has no life and cooks for herself and shit, I loved your latest. Not that balance isn't important, but I'm sure the people out there with "lives," the ones who can think at all, think, "I should do something with my life" now and again. You inspired me to make chocolate chip cookies. I wanted to yesterday but I thought, "What's the point?" Your post wasn't really even about doing something for yourself. It was mostly just the yummy pictures.


message 3: by Erin (last edited Jun 20, 2013 11:13PM)

Erin Enjoyed your article in Salon about Paula Deen. Was excited to realize that I recognized your name from Goodreads and that I intend to read your fiction someday!


Roxane Thanks!



message 1: by Jason

Jason Jordan Welcome to Goodreads, Roxane. :)


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