Roxane Gay

http://www.roxanegay.com

Roxane Gay’s writing has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, NOON, The New York Times Book Review, The Rumpus, Salon, The Wall Street Journal’s Speakeasy culture blog, and many others. She is the co-editor of PANK and essays editor for The Rumpus. She teaches writing at Eastern Illinois University. Her novel, An Untamed State, will be published by Grove Atlantic and her essay collection, Bad Feminist, will be published by Harper Perennial, both in 2014.

But What About the Nipples? A Nice Conversation (Pt. 1)

Blake Butler, Kate Zambreno, Amy King and I recently had an interesting and lengthy conversation about gender, publishing and so much more, prompted by lots of things including the recent, and largely excellent discussion in Blake’s “Language Over Body” post about the second issue of We Are Champion. Over the next three days, I’m going to post that conversation and we all hope you guys join in on our conversation and share your thoughts.

Amy:  I don’t know if you’ll be pleased to know that conjured your name today, Kate, over at Roxane’s gig, HTMLGIANT.  A post pimping the second issue of a new mag, “We Are Champion,” doesn’t note that it’s an all-male issue or that the first one included the work of only three women.   Just one tiny example of a recurring indicator that women writers still aren’t taken seriously, actively sought out, promoted, etc.

Kate: I actually thought the great majority of the conversation that went around this issue on HTML Giant seemed considered and thoughtful, both the idea of “counting” as seeming problematic, and shouldn’t it just be about the writing, and the other side problematizing how when such an inequity occurs it’s just dismissed as “this is just the best writing out there,” etc.  I think it’s a worthwhile issue to explore, if there is still such an inequity in terms of numbers of women published in literary journals (or anyone not straight, white, men). I’m thinking of Juliana Spahr/Stephanie Young’s Number Trouble piece that was published in Chicago Review. I agree with Roxane that this We Are Champion that didn’t feature any women writers is  a symptom of a gender inequity that might be still there in terms of innovative writing, but is not the disease itself. And that zeroing in on this one issue is not really getting at the larger context (although perhaps opening the discussion?)

Roxane: I’m a Libra so I often have many and conflicting opinions about things. I do think the all-male issue of We Are Champion is problematic but I also know that there are many factors involved in how a given issue of a magazine is assembled. While there are many, many problems with how women writers are treated, regarded, and promoted within the publishing community, I am not convinced that the second issue of a small online magazine is an indicator of a problem that is systemic, pervasive, and ongoing.

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Behind the Scenes / 451 Comments
May 3rd, 2010 / 1:30 pm

You Can Call Him Shakespeare: Meet Patrick Wensink

Patrick Wensink began his writing career as a rock critic and his work appears in several newspapers, magazines and web sites. Gradually shifting his attention to fiction, he published his first book, a collection of short stories, Sex Dungeon for Sale!, in 2009. Currently, he is putting the finishing touches on his first novel: Broken Piano for President—a comedy about a man who is more productive when he is drunk than when he’s sober, a hamburger more addictive than crystal meth and an angry pack of cosmonauts. We had a fine conversation about his work, his barbecue sauce and so much more.

Your work has been characterized as “darkly absurdist.” Is that accurate? What does it mean for writing to be absurdist or bizarro? Can those terms be used interchangeably?

I’ve been called much worse, that’s for sure. I use a lot of sarcasm and satire and dark humor in my writing and people draw their own conclusions. I’ll take whatever you want to call me, especially “Shakespearian”. I think if people started calling my work Shakespearian, my parents wouldn’t be so embarrassed about the book’s title.

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Author Spotlight / 24 Comments
April 28th, 2010 / 2:40 pm
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Lincoln Michel, frequent HTMLGIANT commenter and co-editor of Gigantic, has offered a ranking of literary magazines. Magazines I would have considered First Tier, for example, were in the Second Tier–The Missouri Review comes to mind, not in terms of say, my personal preference but in terms of prestige. Rankings are, ultimately, an impossible thing but I thought the rankings were really interesting.

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All White People, Indeed

Now that I’ve had a couple weeks to catch up on life post-AWP, I’ve had time to reflect on my experience attending the conference a second time. I had a fantastic time at AWP ’10. It’s a much better experience when you actually know people; I really enjoyed working at the bookfair with my co-editor and meeting so many contributors; and there was, of course, the EPIC dance party on Saturday night that was everything I had been told it would be and so much more. You have not lived until you see a bunch of hot, sweaty writers dancing awkwardly (myself included), and I do mean awkwardly, to Tone Loc.

At several points during AWP, friends and acquaintances would riff on the theme of AWP standing for All White People and we would laugh and move on to the next topic of conversation but there was a certain truth to the comments that was… uncomfortable.

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Behind the Scenes / 266 Comments
April 27th, 2010 / 3:48 pm
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I really enjoy The Awl, and today there’s an interesting article about why online commenters seem to revel in meanness.

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I am weirdly obsessed with Mark Twain. This is a really interesting NYT article about Twain’s marginalia.

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Drought Resistant Strain: A Conversation With Mather Schneider

Mather Schneider’s Drought Resistant Strain is now available from Interior Noise Press. We had a great e-mail conversation about his writing, his attitude and much more.

I have to ask. Intentionally or not, you were a pretty polarizing figure on HTMLGIANT, and have been accused of being overly negative. Do you agree with the characterization? Do you think of yourself as a contrarian? How do you feel about being the only person who has ever been banned? Would you like to return to the HTMLGIANT community and if so, why?

If I see something that bothers me, like unthinking pc happy face rhetoric, frat boy backslapping, hyperbolic praise, etc. I negate it. Pretentiousness bothers me a lot, like when someone expects to be admired for getting out of bed and eating a bowl of frosties. And hypocrisy bothers me too. I have seen Blake Butler use basically the same tactics in commenting that they kicked me off for. Essentially a rude jokster tactic that refuses to take the conversation seriously. I have a negative side yes, but I have a positive side too. Most of the people who accuse me of being a contrarian only know a small part of me. As you can see from my poetry I am not all negative.

I am not sure I am the only one who has been banned from HTML GIANT. It would not surprise me if others had been banned but not many people knew about it. Either way, yes it bothers me to be banned when I have seen so many others making what I consider much worse comments than I ever made. I have been threatened by people on the net a few times, and that’s something I would never do. I also do not call people “cunts” or shit like that, which I have been called many times. In fact one guy on HTML GIANT said he was going to burn my house down, but I’m sure he’s still allowed to comment, ha ha! You stood up for me on HTML GIANT and I appreciate that. And if you’re willing to post this on there, you must know you’re going to get some backlash for it, and I respect that.

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Author Spotlight / 295 Comments
April 20th, 2010 / 12:57 pm

A Hint Fiction Contest + A Flatmancrooked Launch

Last year the term “hint fiction” was introduced in the essay “Hint Fiction: When Flash Fiction Becomes Just Too Flashy” by Robert Swartwood, published at Flash Fiction Chronicles. To commemorate the occasion, a retrospective essay by the same author , “Hint Fiction: One Year Later” appears at FFC today. To celebrate Hint Fiction’s birthday, Robert is having another contest.

What is Hint Fiction? Inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s infamous six-word story — “For sale: Baby shoes, never worn” — Hint Fiction is a story of 25 words or fewer that suggests a larger, more complex story. These are complete stories that hint at a larger story, not a first sentence or random sentence plucked from a larger work thinly disguised as a story. To see examples, look at last year’s winners and finalists.

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Author News & Contests / 13 Comments
April 19th, 2010 / 12:51 pm

Servicey: Should You Get an MFA? Find out for $1100 + Room/Board in NYC

I have no problem with capitalism or unique ways of creating profit and independent magazines have to really think outside the box to generate money. To that end, today I got an e-mail from One Story about their intimate writer’s workshop that will answer the age-old question: Should I get an MFA?

For the tidy sum of $1100 PLUS a $25 application fee One Story says:

The week will include morning workshops, afternoon craft lectures, and evening panels with writers, editors, agents, and MFA directors. All events are designed to give students the practical advice they need to either apply for an MFA or launch their career outside of academia.

We are crafting a unique experience, both practical and creative, for writers who hope for a career in fiction writing. Students will leave with:

  • A workshopped portfolio they can use as their writing sample
  • Advice from MFA directors about what they look for in an applicant
  • A full understanding of the range of MFA and non-MFA options
  • Insight about what an MFA can offer a writer
  • A breakdown of the financial implications of an MFA
  • A community of writers at the same stage of their career
  • Access to One Story editors and authors
  • A look at the wider publishing world from literary agents, editors, and writers

I am fascinated by these sorts of workshops and people who could afford to spend this kind of money. I will do all these things for you for $110! One-tenth of the price! BARGAIN! For free you can consult Dr. Google about what an MFA might offer you. Or you could ask a writer. Options, they’re fantastic.

Behind the Scenes / 100 Comments
April 16th, 2010 / 4:27 pm

So Many Books Contest Winners and Runners Up

We received quite a few entries and the quality was exceptionally high and picking the winner and finalists was pretty damn tough. Although, because of timing, we weren’t able to work with Rick Moody to select a winner, scores have been tabulated, tea leaves have been consulted, incantations have been made and we have come up with a winner and nine runners up, all of whom will be published on a very special, very sweet website in the near future. Thanks, all, for playing!

Administrative note: If you offered prizes please e-mail contest@htmlgiant.com and we’ll send you the appropriate winner or finalist’s address so you can dispatch them their prize.

Winner:

Kristi McGuire Revising the Pharmacist In Love

Runners Up:

Amber Sparks For These Humans Who Cannot Fly
James Greer Second Hand Blue
Joseph Goosey I < 3 Escapism
Kyle Minor Synopsis of Late Chapters…
Matt Salesses In My War Novel
Sandra Simonds Strays: A Love Story
Kristen Gleason Dear Homeowner
Daniel Portland Portland: City of Rosebuds
Will Luers Imperfections

Contests / 42 Comments
April 16th, 2010 / 2:53 pm