It’s Not Roxane Gay’s Job to Make People Happy

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Roxane Gay is a prominent American author, professor, and cultural critic known for her unflinching honesty, quick wit, and razor-sharp intellect. She has gained acclaim for her essays, fiction, and memoirs that explore identity, gender, race, and body image. This week, Roxane joins Michael for a conversation about what it means to be a public intellectual and how this has shifted throughout her career.

Reading list:

Ayiti, Roxane Gay, 2011

An Untamed State, Roxane Gay, 2014

Bad Feminist, Roxane Gay, 2014

Difficult Women, Roxane Gay, 2017

Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, Roxane Gay, 2017

The Banks, Roxane Gay, 2019

Opinions: A Decade of Arguments, Criticism, and Minding Other People's Business, Roxane Gay, 2023

Jazz, Toni Morrison, 1992

The Source of Self-Regard: Essays, Speeches, Meditations, Toni Morrison, 2019

You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store.

Roxane Gay appears at Carriageworks in Sydney, as part of the Festival of Dangerous Ideas (24-25 August) and at Melbourne Town Hall (27 August), presented by the Wheeler Centre and Now or Never. For more information head to their websites.

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Guest: Roxane Gay