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SEPTEMBER 14, 2014<\/p>\n
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the roxane gay moment<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n SOURCE: JAY GRABIEC \/ Author Roxane Gay at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois, 2014<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Roxane Gay is everywhere these days. The first-generation\u00a0Haitian-American writer<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and Purdue University associate professor is days away from her second book release of 2014 \u2014\u00a0Bad Feminist<\/em>\u00a0will hit shelves on August 5 \u2014 and her name and words can be found on tongues, book lists and high-profile pages on\u00a0every corner of the Internet<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0Oprah Winfrey\u2019s\u00a0O Magazine<\/em>\u00a0labeled\u00a0Bad Feminist\u00a0<\/em>a Must Read.\u00a0Chicago<\/em>\u00a0Magazine just selected\u00a0An Untamed State<\/em>, released in May, as Best Debut Novel.\u00a0The Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0called her a \u201cstrikingly fresh cultural critic.\u201d Her new book has just been added to theNY Times<\/em>\u00a0Editor\u2019s Choice\u00a0book list<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and has received glowing reviews from\u00a0The Chicago Tribune,<\/em>\u00a0TIME<\/em>,\u00a0Cosmopolitan<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Publisher\u2019s Weekly.\u00a0<\/em>Flattering superlatives often precede her name and words.<\/span><\/p>\n In other words, girl is having a\u00a0moment<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n This spring and summer, she finished one book tour only to immediately begin another and still finds time to\u00a0experiment in the kitchen<\/span><\/a>\u00a0as a disciple of the grandiose culinary stylings of\u00a0Barefoot Contessa<\/em>\u2019s Ina Garten. Gay\u2019s seamless emotionally raw melding of the mundane and the horrific has endeared her to readers and critics alike and earned her key editing posts at a host of diverse outlets.\u00a0As the former essays editor for the hipster lit-mag\u00a0The Rumpus<\/em>\u00a0and co-editor of\u00a0PANK<\/em>\u00a0magazine, she\u2019s beaten her drum on behalf of often-overlooked writers of color.<\/span><\/p>\n Over email, Gay gave OZY a look into her writing habits and what really gets her juices going as a reader.<\/span><\/p>\n OZY:\u00a0<\/span>If you had to attribute your success as a writer to particular habits or behaviors, which would they be?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n ROXANE GAY: I am naked about my ambition, I am relentless, I work my ass off, and I am always open to learning more and becoming better.<\/span><\/p>\n OZY:\u00a0<\/span>The professional life of many writers \u201cain\u2019t been no crystal stair.\u201d Can you recall any earlier resistance, rejections or obstacles that helped you get tough skin? What was your takeaway?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n ROXANE GAY:Most of the process of getting your writing published ain\u2019t no crystal stair. Every rejection just made me want to work harder and be better. I allowed myself the hurt of rejection, and then I put those rejections in the proper context. Perspective has always helped me thicken my skin and keep on keeping on.<\/span><\/p>\n Excerpt:\u00a0<\/em>Bad feminism seems the only way I can both embrace myself as a feminist and be myself, so I write. I chatter away on Twitter about everything that makes me angry and all the small things that bring me joy. I write blogposts about the meals I cook as I try to take better care of myself, and with each new entry I realise that I\u2019m undestroying myself after years of allowing myself to stay damaged. The more I write, the more I put myself out into the world as a bad feminist but, I hope, a good woman \u2014 I am being open about who I am and who I was and where I have faltered and who I would like to become.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n ROXANE GAY:\u00a0I am not much for rituals when it comes to writing. I write when I want or, increasingly, when I have a deadline.<\/span><\/p>\n ROXANE GAY:\u00a0I would advise new writers to know where they are sending their work. So much of getting your work published is about fit. You are better poised for success when you send your work to magazines that will get what you\u2019re about. It\u2019s also important to give a damn about what you\u2019re writing. Read your work a few times before submitting. This should not need to be said but it needs to be said. Stand behind your work. Don\u2019t demean yourself. All too often in cover letters, writers will say, \u201cThis probably isn\u2019t any good but I am submitting it anyway.\u201d That is a real editorial turn off. When your work comes out, don\u2019t be afraid to share the good word about what you\u2019ve done, and do so, as with all things, in moderation.<\/span><\/p>\n OZY:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong>Almost two years ago, responding to the idea that there \u201csimply aren\u2019t many writers of color,\u201d you compiled\u00a0an impressive list of writers of color for the Rumpus<\/span><\/a>. How do you view diversity in the literary world today? What type of changes have you seen since you began speaking on diversity?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n ROXANE GAY:\u00a0I view diversity in largely the same way. We\u2019re still having literary conversations about a token handful of writers of color while the breadth and depth of our community is overlooked by gatekeepers. That said, I see so many amazing writers of colors doing the damn thing and making noise about other writers of color. We are lifting up our community our damn selves and that is gratifying.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Hottest Writer on the Market?<\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n
\nBy Alexander Hardy<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n![\"SOURCE:](\"http:\/\/kalamu.com\/neogriot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Roxane-Gay-Square.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nOZY:\u00a0<\/span>Do you have any writing rituals? How do you get in the mood?<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n
\nOZY:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>What is something you wish more young and aspiring writers knew?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n