‘I’ve wanted to have an imprint for quite some time, but I always just wanted to be a writer,’ she says. But for Gay, this new imprint is not a first-time endeavour. It’s rare for a writer, especially one of Gay’s stature, to be involved in both sides of the publishing industry in this manner. ‘I just thought, “I read a lot and I would love to have some forum where I could discuss these books with others”.’īut her biggest venture of the year is the launch of her new imprint, Roxane Gay Books. I think a lot of the time, we’re wondering, “Where do I start? What do I read?’” says Gay. ‘There are so many great books that are published every day, every week. Like many of her projects, the book club began as a way to share writing that she loves with curious readers. Gay also launched The Audacious Book Club in 2021. She also went to Iceland to film a MasterClass, worked on the screenplay for Hunger (based on her bestselling memoir), and has nearly completed a young adult novel.
So I try to be supportive while also being very frank, because I don’t think it’s bad to hold someone’s hand, but I do think it’s bad when you make them think that they are perfect or that they can’t improve, or when you sugar coat criticism, and so I try to be frank but also kind.Currently, Gay is finishing up How To Be Heard, her next book that’s filled with writing advice and tools for how to use one’s voice. No, I teach, and I teach creative writing, so you have to learn how to give criticism, and I do think I do it well, because with a background in teaching, I remember, I try to remember anyway, that you want to make someone better. I’ve also learned which criticism are not so much about me but about the person who wrote the criticism and knowing when to just make that distinction and ignore what that person has to say.ĭo you think that you’re pretty good at giving criticism?
But I have I have learned and continue to learn how to really hear what’s valuable in that criticism so that I can become a better writer and thinker. Not very well, and I handle it the same way now, like “you are a trash and you don’t deserve to exist.” No, when I first started out, you know, I took it really personally, of course, because writing is often times personal, and the deeper that I’ve gotten into my career, I still take it personally. How do you think you handled criticism when you first started? You know, just advice on how to handle criticism. When to respond, when not to respond, how to take the best of the criticism, and you know, how to discard those things that aren’t really going to make you into a better writer. I wish I had been given advice on how to handle criticism. What advice do you wish someone had given you before you started writing? Now I just take those same stories and publish them in literary magazines. The first time I got paid to write was for an erotica anthology when I was in my 20s, and they paid $50. I mean, I’ve always known it can be an actual career, but it was really, I think, about five years ago, when I was 36, that I realized that you can cobble together a reasonably good life as a writer.ĭo you remember the first time you got paid to write?
Oh, I don’t know, but I’ll let you know when I do find that out. When did you realize that writing could be an actual career? I mean, sometimes you just need something to be just a normal size. It’s just so large, and when I’m holding it, it barely fits in my hands. I never use it, and it really is very, very big, and that’s what she said. What is something you bought that you now completely regret buying? No, it has not necessarily been getting easier, but I am getting more used to it. I’m a writer because I’m shy, I want to be behind the scenes, and I didn’t realize that when a book takes off, you have to go in front of cameras. I’m a writer because I don’t like people. The hardest part about my job is and having to go on television and having to do a lot of public events. What is the hardest part about your job that nobody knows? You know you’ll never get bored working in an E.R. I’ve always wanted to be a doctor, and I just love the idea of working with a lot of different kinds of patients and meeting a lot of different kinds of people. My next career would be an emergency room physician. In a next life, what would your career be? Roxanne Gay is the author of “ Untamed State” and “ Bad Feminist,” a nd the forthcoming “Difficult Women” and “Hunger.” This week, author Roxane Gay took our money-inspired personality questionnaire.
No matter who you are, you’ve probably had a rough day at the office that changed your perspective, or maybe you made an impulse purchase you really, really wish you could take back.