Roxane Gay

In 2014, Gay published her debut novel, An Untamed State, which centers around Mireille Duval Jameson, a Haitian-American woman who is kidnapped for ransom. The novel explores the interconnected themes of race, privilege, sexual violence, family, and the immigrant experience.[25] An Untamed State is often referred to as a fairy tale because of its structure and style, especially in reference to the opening sentence, "Once upon a time, in a far-off land, I was kidnapped by a gang of fearless yet terrified young men with so much impossible hope beating inside their bodies it burned their very skin and strengthened their will right through their bones," and the author's exploration of the American dream and courtship of Mireille's parents.[25][25][26]

The novel received critical acclaim, with The Guardian review by Attica Locke calling it "a breathtaking debut novel,"[26] and The Washington Post crediting it as "a smart, searing novel."[27]

Gay's collection of essays, Bad Feminist, was released in 2014 to widespread acclaim; it addresses both cultural and political issues, and became a New York Times best-seller.[28] A Time magazine reviewer dubbed Bad Feminist "a manual on how to be human," and called Gay the "gift that keeps on giving."[29] In a 2014 interview with the magazine, Gay explained her role as a feminist, and how it has influenced her writing: "In each of these essays, I’m very much trying to show how feminism influences my life for better or worse. It just shows what it’s like to move through the world as a woman. It’s not even about feminism per se, it’s about humanity and empathy."[29]

In The Guardian, critic Kira Cochrane offered a similar assessment, "While online discourse is often characterised by extreme, polarised opinions, her writing is distinct for being subtle and discursive, with an ability to see around corners, to recognise other points of view while carefully advancing her own. In print, on Twitter and in person, Gay has the voice of the friend you call first for advice, calm and sane as well as funny, someone who has seen a lot and takes no prisoners."[30]

A group of feminist scholars and activists analyzed Gay's Bad Feminist for "Short Takes: Provocations on Public Feminism," an initiative of the feminist journal Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society.[31]

In July 2016, Gay and poet Yona Harvey were announced as writers for Marvel Comics' World of Wakanda, a spin-off from the company's Black Panther title,[32] making them the first black women to be lead writers for Marvel.[33]

Black Panther: World of Wakanda was hailed for its prominent portrayal of LGBTQ characters.[34] The comic followed the journey of two lovers Aneka and Ayo, who are former members of the Dora Milaje, the Black Panther's female security force.[35] The series follows the pair through multiple events, including the siege of their city by Thanos and the flooding of Wakanda by Namor.[34]

The series' cancellation was confirmed in June 2017 by Gay, just two days after the premiere of the trailer for the Black Panther movie. The last issue released in March 2017.[36] Marvel stated no official reason for the cancellation; however, feminist tech site The Mary Sue pointed to a connection with Marvel's knock against "diversity titles" and Marvel VP David Gabriel's statement that "people didn’t want any more diversity. They didn’t want female characters out there. That’s what we heard, whether we believe that or not. I don’t know that that’s really true, but that’s what we saw in sales."[36]

In 2017, Gay published Difficult Women,[37][38][39] a collection of fictional short stories that highlight women who have lives that differ from society’s spectrum of a normal life. Each story follows a different character and her journey through either a traumatic experience or what makes her different from societal norms. The women are seen as "difficult" because they push the boundaries of society's portrayal of the perfect woman.

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body was released in June 2017.[40] Throughout, Gay discusses her experience with weight, body image, and building a positive relationship with food, particularly following her experience as a childhood victim of sexual violence. Gay described the book as a testimony of "what it’s like to live in a world that tried to discipline unruly bodies."[41] The memoir received wide acclaim, praised by critics as "remarkable... ferociously honest,"[42] "arresting and candid,"[43] and "intimate and vulnerable."[44]

Following her national book tour in support of Hunger,[45][46] Gay said she found press around the book "to be very challenging, because people just don’t know how to talk about fat."[47] In June 2017, Australian website Mamamia published an interview with Gay, revealing numerous details about how they prepared for her visit, which they described as a "logistical nightmare" because of the apparent inconsequence of her weight. On Twitter, Gay later described these preparations, including questions like “Will she fit into the office lift?” as both "cruel and humiliating".[48] In an interview with The New York Times, Gay stated the controversial event was "helpful, in that I think people get to see, in real time, what fat-phobia looks like and just how careless people can be in considering that fat people deserve dignity. So I suppose it’s a useful example of why I wrote the book."[48]

At a February 2019 speaking event at USC, in the Q&A, supporters of the Revolutionary Communist Party criticized co-speaker Amanda Nguyen's work in the U.S. government during the War on Terror;[49] in response, Gay defended Nguyen on Twitter.

Gay was the editor of the anthology titled Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture. The collection, published in 2018 by HarperCollins, features essays from Gay and 30 other authors, including actresses Ally Sheedy and Gabrielle Union.[50]

Medium approached Gay in 2017 about the possibility of starting a "pop-up" magazine for the online publishing platform.[51] The magazine would specialize in cultural criticism and provide pay for writers including Gay's work in an editorial capacity.[51] The weekly online publication was produced with Medium's Deputy Editor Laura June and Managing Editor Kaitlyn Adams.[52][53] The first issue, published in late April 2019, featured essays by Athena Dixon and Grace Lavery.[54][55] In May 2019, Gay and Medium formally launched the new publication, "Gay Magazine."[54][55] The short-lived journal was also referred to on Medium as "GAY The Magazine--The Best Stories About Culture" and "Gay Mag." The first of the planned quarterly themed editions appeared in June 2019; public submissions were solicited in addition to the commissioned articles.[56] The final issue of Medium's Gay Magazine was themed 'Power' and was posted on April 3, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic's global lockdowns.[57]

In October 2019, asked about "Gay Magazine," Gay responded, "I’m doing what I always aim to do as an editor, which is to create a literary space for a range of voices who have something smart and interesting to say — and more importantly, to be able to pay them well. One of the biggest challenges of the digital media landscape is that the money is concentrated at the top and it rarely trickles down to the editors and writers, so to be able to have the support of Medium to create a publication — for however long it lasts – where we can pay people equitably and fairly is a really great thing. There is so much good writing going on out there, and I love being able to have a small hand in bringing that into the world."[58]

In April 2018, Gay partnered with the online publishing platform Medium to create a month-long pop-up magazine called Unruly Bodies. The magazine explored the relationship people share with their bodies, through an anthology of essays by 25 writers (including Gay herself).[59] Gay asked the twenty-four writers, "What does it mean to live in an unruly body?"[51]; her book dealing with such issues, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, had been published in 2017. In a 2018 interview, Gay said, "I was surprised because I expected that I might get a lot of repetition, of [subject], not of style, but people wrote about all kinds of things. They wrote about gender, size, gun violence, wrestling, sex, ability. The range of issues from that one prompt, with the way that writers responded, was wonderful, and affirmed that I made very good choices in the writers that I approached."[51] In April 2018, over a year before the actual launch of the online magazine, "Gay Magazine" posted 25 articles in response to Gay's query under the heading Unruly Bodies; the writers were: Kaveh Akbar, Gabrielle Bellot, S. Bear Bergman, Keah Brown, Meghan Carpentier, Mike Copperman, Jennine Capó Crucet, Kelly Davio, Mensah Demary, Danielle Evans, Roxane Gay, Casey Hannan, Samantha Irby, Randa Jarrar, Kima Jones, Kiese Laymon, Carmen Maria Machado, Terese Mailhot, Mary Anne Mohanraj, Brian Oliu, Tracy Lynne Oliver, Larissa Pham, Matthew Salesses, Chelsea G. Summers and Your Fat Friend.[60]

Gay was the editor of The Butter, an online feminist writing site and sister site to The Toast, from November 2014 to August 2015.[61] The Butter featured writing on a wide variety of subjects, including disability, literature, family, and music.[62] The Butter ceased publishing in August 2015, with Gay stating she was "simply stretched too thin."[62]

Gay was a US Guardian columnist from 2015 - 2018.[63]

Gay was the guest judge and guest editor of The Masters Review annual fiction anthology in 2017.

Gay was featured in a five-minute segment of This American Life on June 17, 2016, talking about her body, and how she is perceived as a fat person.[64]

Gay has a forthcoming book, How to Be Heard, originally set to be published in 2018 by TED Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. However, in January 2017 Gay announced she was pulling the book from Simon & Schuster due to her objections to alt-right journalist Milo Yiannopoulos receiving a book deal from another Simon & Schuster imprint.[65]

She also edited the book Girl Crush: Women's Erotic Fantasies.[66] In addition to her regular contributions to Salon and the now-defunct HTMLGiant,[67] her writing has appeared in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, West Branch, Virginia Quarterly Review, NOON, Bookforum, Time, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation and The New York Times Book Review.[68]

Gay was featured in the 2016 book In the Company of Women: Inspiration and Advice from over 100 Makers, Artists, and Entrepreneurs.[69]

On February 22, 2018, on Twitter, Gay offered to write Batgirl after the departure of Joss Whedon, who stepped down as the film's writer and director.[70]

In July 2019, Gay launched a book club on HBO's VICE News Tonight.[71]

In 2019, Gay partnered with Tressie McMillan Cottom to create a black feminist podcast titled "Hear To Slay," which was set to feature influential black women as guests, including Stacey Abrams, Gabrielle Union, and Ava DuVernay.[72][73]