Raising Really Good Hell for People Who Cannot
The only thing better than an interview with writer, scholar, and Twitter luminary Tressie McMillan Cottom is an interview with McMillan Cottom where the interviewer is Roxane Gay.
What Does a Political Story Look Like in 2018?
An essay in which Roxane Gay reveals how she chose the short stories for inclusion in Best American Short Stories 2018 — with an eye toward writing that engaged with the political in thoughtful, engaging, diverse and inclusive ways.
Louis C.K. and Men Who Think Justice Takes as Long as They Want It To
“We need to figure out what justice looks like in the court of public opinion, not for the sake of the offenders, but for the sake of victims.”
What Fullness Is
Roxane Gay on getting weight reduction surgery.
Unruly Bodies
At Medium, Hunger: A Memoir of My Body author Roxane Gay created this excellent pop-up magazine, to be delivered in installments over four Tuesdays in April — “a month-long magazine exploring our ever-changing relationship with our bodies,” she writes. “I knew exactly what I wanted to do — to create a space for writers I respect and admire to contribute to the ongoing conversation about unruly bodies and what it means to be human.” She tapped 24 writers to contribute. This first edition features an introduction by Gay, and essays by Randa Jarrar, Kiese Laymon, Matthew Salesses, Keah Brown, S. Bear Bergman, and Mary Anne Mohanraj. To come in the next three editions: Carmen Maria Machado, chelsea g. summers, Kaveh Akbar, Terese Mailhot, Casey Hannan, Samantha Irby, Tracy Lynne Oliver, Kelly Davio, Brian Oliu, Mike Copperman, Danielle Evans, Jennine Capó Crucet, Megan Carpentier, Kima Jones, the writer known as Your Fat Friend, Gabrielle Bellot, Mensah Demary, and larissa pham.
Fifty Years Ago, Protesters Took on the Miss America Pageant and Electrified the Feminist Movement
In the wake of a sexist email scandal that has led to new management of the Miss America Pageant, Bad Feminist author Roxane Gay reports on 1968 protests by radical feminists against all that the pageant stands for.
‘Tiny House Hunters’ and the Shrinking American Dream
The dream of homeownership, now with composting toilets.
Nicki Minaj, Always in Control
Author Roxane Gay profiles hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj as part of T: The New York Times Style Magazine‘s “The Greats” series, which also includes six other cover profiles: Alexander Chee on Korean director Park Chan Wook, Hanya Yanagihara on designer Dries Van Noten, Lin Manuel Miranda on lyricist Stephen Sondheim, Manohla Dargis on actor Amy Adams, Dave Eggers on writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Randy Kennedy on sculptor Claes Oldenburg.
The Price of Black Ambition
Roxane Gay published two books this year, and is “having a moment.” But her experience with racial inequality in America has her wondering what success actually means.
An Untamed State: The Opening Chapters from Roxane Gay’s New Novel
Roxane Gay’s new novel, An Untamed State, is out this week, and we’re excited to present the opening chapters with the Longreads community. Our thanks to Gay and Grove Atlantic for sharing it here.
