Roxane Gay

  • Ashley Farmer Release Party in SF

    If you live in the Bay Area, you owe it to yourself to make it out to this release party for Ashley Farmer’s book Beside Myself, out from our essays editor Roxane Gay‘s own Tiny Hardcore Press. THP—and its associated litmag, PANK—are…

  • A Book Review Column That Isn’t All About White Men

    As VIDA’s annual stats have made very clear, most publications favor male writers reviewing books by other male writers. Our inimitable essays editor Roxane Gay has also talked about the lack of representation of writers of color in many publications.…

  • “Diversity Does Bring About Positive Change”

    After public pressure came to a head, Saturday Night Live finally added a black woman to its cast: Sasheer Zamata, a comedian, actress, and veteran of improv group the Upright Citizens’ Brigade. Our essays editor Roxane Gay wrote an essay for Time…

  • AWP Offsite Event: Rumpus by the Sound

    The Rumpus proudly presents… Rumpus by the Sound Thursday, February 27, 2014 Doors at 8:30 p.m., show at 9:00 p.m. Spitfire 2219 4th Avenue Seattle, WA Our offsite AWP event is sure to be one of the after-hours highlights of…

  • Fictional Characters Are Not Your Friends

    Critics who fault a character’s unlikability cannot necessarily be faulted. They are merely expressing a wider cultural malaise with all things unpleasant, all things that dare to breach the norm of social acceptability. In a cheekily titled BuzzFeed Books essay,…

  • Social Justice and the Power of Twitter

    Rumpus editor Roxane Gay has a new essay at Salon discussing the power of Twitter and empathy in the wake of the Justine Sacco scandal. Social media can give people a voice in situations where those voices are usually silenced, but,…

  • Michelle Obama: Not Feminist Enough?

    I was not heretofore aware feminists were disappointed in [Michelle] Obama and how she chooses to live her life. I was not aware that Obama was not an activist. Now I know. For Salon, our essays editor Roxane Gay takes on a…

  • When a man finds his feminist voice

    Daniel Jose Older has an essay in the Feminists of Color series over at Salon that is curated by Rumpus editor Roxane Gay. Daniel talks about finding his voice as a feminist: “I was immersed in the gender violence prevention…

  • Writing Your First Book

    When I started writing a novel I thought, I’m not ready, because I’ve only written short stories and nobody wants them, but I also thought, For Christ’s sake, what am I going to do? I can’t keep on like this.…

  • Rumpus Writers Help Define Modern Literature

    Flavorwire’s Jason Diamond has compiled a list of fifty books that defined the past five years of literature. From the universally acclaimed (Wolf Hall) to the controversial (what purpose did i serve in your life), from the literary heavyweights (Tenth of…

  • The Letters Festival

    The Letters Festival is happening now in Atlanta. A three day literature festival with writing workshops, panels, and readings. If you’re in town, go see our very own Rumpus editor Roxane Gay at The Goat Farm Arts Center at 6:30…

  • Roxane Gay on the Joys and Perils of Twitter

    When we debate modernity, we tend to engage in all-or-nothing propositions. Technology is either wholly good or wholly destructive. Somewhere between these two extremes is where we will find the truth. Our rock-star essays editor Roxane Gay has an essay titled…