AMES, Iowa – Roxane Gay, one of the preeminent feminist voices and cultural critics today, is coming to Iowa State University in April to present a lecture, “Bad Feminist.”

Roxane Gay
Gay will speak at 8 p.m. Thursday, April 5, in the Memorial Union Great Hall. This lecture is free and open to the public.
“Bad Feminist,” a collection of essays, became a New York Times bestseller in 2014 and is considered a quintessential exploration of modern feminism. “Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body,” in which Gay reflects on her struggles with weight, trauma and identity, was released last year. She also wrote the novel “An Untamed State” and the short story collections “Difficult Women” and “Ayiti.”
Gay became the first black woman to write for Marvel Comics with the comic book “Black Panther: World of Wakanda.”
She is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times; founding editor of PANK, a literary magazine; and founding essays editor at The Rumpus, an online literary magazine. Gay is an associate professor of English at Purdue University, teaching creative writing.
Gay received a Ph.D. in rhetoric and technical communication from Michigan Technological University, and a master’s degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
This lecture is co-sponsored by the MFA program in creative writing and environment, Margaret Sloss Women’s Center, Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, Division of Student Affairs, Pearl Hogrefe Visiting Writer Series, Ames Public Library Friends Foundation, and the National Affairs series committee and Committee on Lectures, both of which are funded by Student Government.
Find more information about ISU lectures online or by calling 515-294-9935.
Contacts
Pat Miller, Lectures Program, 515-294-9935, pamiller@iastate.edu
Chelsea Davis, News Service, 515-294-4778, chelsead@iastate.edu
National Affairs Series, Pearl Hogrefe Visiting Writer Series
"Bad Feminist"
Roxane Gay
8 p.m. Thursday, April 5
MU Great Hall
Doors will open at 7:15 p.m. Enter through the West Lobby/Sun Room.
Free and open to the public
Telling Necessary Stories: Q&A on the Craft of Writing
Ahead of her lecture, writers will have an opportunity to ask questions and hear Roxane Gay discuss her own writing process in an informal moderated craft talk.
4-5 p.m. Thursday, April 5, MU Pioneer Room
"When I write, I want to tell necessary stories, whether I am writing fiction or nonfiction. I want to make readers think and feel intensely. It’s not up to me as a writer to tell readers why they should care. We all come to reading in different ways for different reasons. I can only hope that more often than not, I am putting something meaningful on the page."
— Roxane Gay, Kore Press, "An Interview with Roxane Gay"