Tim Obaro profiles Rumpus Essays Editor Roxane Gay and looks at her debut novel, An Untamed State, for Chicago Magazine. The novel follows a middle-class newlywed kidnapped while on vacation in Haiti. Obaro writes:
Born in Omaha, Gay conceived the idea for the novel after hearing her Haitian parents talk of acquaintances with family members who had been kidnapped. Following one such story—Gay doesn’t remember the exact details—she began to develop her protagonist.