Roxane Gay: Judgment can be the measure of discipline we need to improve our craft.
In this interview, we get an intimate glimpse into Roxane’s thoughts regarding process, judgment, risk and disclosure, whether or not she lies or invents, and so much more.Īrisa White: How does “judgment” work to a writer’s benefit and to their detriment? “I just sit down and write when I want to write, or as is the case all too often, when there is a deadline and I need to write.” As writers, listening and honoring your basic need to write is a discipline, in and of itself. “I don’t have a practice or ritual,” she said. Roxane is an associate professor at Purdue University, co-editor of PANK, a non-profit literary arts collective, and she is a frequent Salon contributor, and the editor of “The Butter Essay Series,” at Ĭurious about her writing practice, I asked Roxane if she has rituals to get started. Her work has been nominated for the 46th Annual NAACP Image Awards in Outstanding Literary Work in nonfiction and fiction. She is the author of Ayiti, Bad Feminist, and An Untamed State. A dynamic provocateur and cultural critic, Roxane Gay was the judge for the Kore Press Annual Short Fiction Award, 2015.
