Women to Admire: Roxane Gay
By mining personal, often painful experiences in her work, the best-selling author has tapped into the zeitgeist in a way most writers can only dream of.
I first became aware of Roxane Gay when I stumbled upon Bad Feminist in a bookstore shortly after its publication in 2014. When I read the collection of essays, I was blown away. It was like someone had surreptitiously held a focus group about everything I care about — feminism, pop culture, identity, politics, literature — and organized a book based on its findings.
What I was most struck by was Gay’s voice: it comes through loud and clear in every inch of Bad Feminist, from her take-down of Fifty Shades of Grey to her reflections on black representation in film. I felt an immediate connection with Gay. I still do — and I know I’m not the only one.
Gay’s other work includes a short story collection titled Difficult Women, a novel titled An Untamed State, and a memoir called Hunger. All of these tackle personal, painful subject matter like racism, rape, infidelity, abuse, body image and hatred, both internal and external.
They’re by turns shattering, captivating and cathartic. When you read something by Roxane Gay, it’s as if your closest (and very articulate) friend is confessing her most intimate experiences. At the same time, Gay’s prose is so open and honest, the characters’ arcs feel like they’re happening to you. It takes a great well of feeling to write as Gay does, and to absorb it as Gay’s readers do.
For this reason, Gay’s books, especially Hunger, are incredibly resonant at this moment in time. Hunger traces Gay’s relationship with her body, including the weight gain that began after she was gang-raped as an adolescent.
It’s a raw read, one that will strike a nerve with any person who has struggled with their own physique or has survived trauma. Hunger was written and published before the birth of #MeToo, but its message is the same: I matter.
I’m most familiar with Gay as an author of fiction and nonfiction, but there are plenty of other projects on her résumé. She writes for Marvel’s World of Wakanda comics, which are a part of the Black Panther universe. She’s one of The New York Times‘ best op-ed contributors. Plus, she’s an Outlander fan and recapper. (Hey, I have something in common with Roxane Gay!)
Of course, Gay is also the courageous woman who took a decisive stand against hate by pulling a book from Simon & Schuster after the publisher inked a six-figure deal with professional troll Milo Yiannopoulos (a deal that later fell through).
To make a long story short, Roxane Gay is basically my professional hero. She’s a master writer who makes her opinions about Claire and Jamie Fraser just as riveting as the plot of An Untamed State, which centers on a young wife and mother who is kidnapped while visiting her family in Haiti.
Gay is also one with the zeitgeist: her prose can stand on its own, but it’s intrinsically tied to the culture in which it was created. Finally, her work is defined by its unwavering honesty, its ability to forge a deep connection with readers.
Next. Women to Admire: Hermione Granger. dark
More than anything else, though, Gay’s words stick with you long after you’ve finished reading them. They’re impossible to shake but always leave you wanting more. Fortunately — for me, for her other fans, and for any book lover — it appears that Gay is just getting started.