Roxane Gay: Yes, I am! It’s a good problem to have, but it’s a lot more time-consuming than I ever imagined. Mother Jones: With two books coming out just three months apart, you must be going insane. I caught up with Gay a few weeks after the release of her latest novel, An Untamed State, as she prepped for back-to-back summer book tours, to discuss her survival tactics for social awkwardness, her Scrabble obsession, and why she never shows her writing to her parents. “I am messy.” And capital-F feminism could do with a little more messiness. It’s a mix of the somber and the hilarious Gay aptly quotes both Judith Butler and the Ying Yang Twins. Most of the writings in this collection have been published at various outlets, including at The Rumpus, where Gay is essays editor.īad Feminist reads like an autobiography, segueing from elements of Gay’s life-her Nebraska upbringing, her Haitian-American family, her cooking-into smart critiques of everything from reproductive rights to the Sweet Valley High and Twilight books. Gay-literature professor, novelist, prolific Twitterer, and blogger who imparts life wisdom couched in cooking advice-is best known for her deeply personal essays about everything from politics to pop culture. “When I drive to work, I listen to thuggish rap at a very loud volume, even though the lyrics are degrading to women and offend me to my core,” she writes. In her new essay collection, Bad Feminist, out August 5, author Roxane Gay wrestles with this conundrum.
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