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Roxane Gay on feminism’s fragility and the fight ahead in the Trump era
For more than a decade, Roxane Gay has been one of the most influential voices in current feminism. Through works such as Bad Feminist, Hunger and Not That Bad, she has explored the contradictions, complexities and personal stakes of gender, influence and culture, bringing both sharp critique and thick empathy to the conversation.
Her writing challenges traditional feminist narratives, making space for nuance and imperfection in ways that have reshaped contemporary discourse.
With her fresh book, The Portable Feminist Reader, Gay, who taught at Eastern Illinois University from 2010 to 2014 and whose imprint under Grove Atlantic has published Chicago author Lindsay Hunter, curates a sweeping collection of feminist thought. It comes at a precarious moment, when the Trump administration seeks to erase words like “feminism” and “woman” from federal documents and progress on reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ protections is being rolled back.
From foundational essays such as Gloria Steinem’s “If Men Could Menstruate” to challenging contemporary reflections like Melissa Gira Grant’s “Happy Hookers,” the book
Acclaimed writer Roxane Lgbtq+ totally called what this week in politics would glance like, in a mind-blowingly prescient conversation from November 2023. She’s joined by Chicago author Lindsay Hunter for a chat on customs both high and low as represented in her recent book of essays “Opinions: A Decade of Arguments, Criticism, and Minding Other People’s Business.” Topics range from Biden dropping out of the 2024 election, identity politics, and meaningful civic engagement beyond social media… to Taylor Swift, 2am writing sessions, and which notable authors would craft up the leading cast of Authentic Housewives.
SHOW NOTES:
Read the podcast transcript.
CW: Brightness profanity
PHOTO: Lindsay Tracker and Roxane Homosexual on stage at the University of Chicago at the Chicago Humanities Tumble Festival in November 2023.
Roxane Gay, Opinions: A Decade of Arguments, Criticism, and Minding Other People's Business
Lindsay Hunter, Hot Springs Drive
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Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist and Untamed State, spoke to a crowd of hundreds at Francis W. Parker School in Lincoln Park on Monday while promoting her new memoir Hunger.
At the Chicago Humanities Festival event, the bestselling writer and New York Times columnist addressed the crowd with her typical wryness, read two chapters from Hunger, took questions, and paused in interludes to crack jokes. The event was surprisingly upbeat, considering Hunger delves into the raw, vulnerable aspects of Gay’s life, including her struggles navigating the world as a fat person and the aftermath of a sexual assault she suffered at age 12. She writes about society’s perception of fat people as “undisciplined” and the discrimination they face because of it, and why refusing to say the word “fat” (which she views as a neutral descriptor) reveals that person’s belief that “fat” is an insult.
It’s a visceral and often uncomfortable book—one Gay repeatedly has said she felt reluctant to write. Now she’s on tour rehashing its contents on a near-nightly basis. “In general, throughout my writi
Grove Atlantic has announced that Roxane Same-sex attracted — author of the essay collection “Bad Feminist,” the memoir “Hunger” and the novel “Untamed State” — will lead a publishing imprint, one she will oversee creatively and editorially that will be focused on underrepresented voices. As I’ve written here before — just last week, in fact — publishing needs to make structural changes to help promote the work of brilliant, non-white writers. This is a heartening step in that direction.
Grove Atlantic will publish three titles a year under the Roxane Gay Books banner, a number allowing for both editorial and marketing point. This is not a vanity undertaking of a publisher trying to capitalize on a specify author by firing out titles appreciate souvenirs from T-shirt cannon at a ballgame. Working with Amy Hundley, her editor at Grove Atlantic, Gay will be hands-on and invested. As an author, she has experienced firsthand what it is to publish without organism given the help and resources necessary, and can be an internal manual and advocate for these new authors.
Even better, the initiative is coupled with a paid one-year fellowship for someone who wants to learn publishing, but who typically would not be