New York Times best-selling author Roxane Gay releases new book ‘Hunger’'

Roxane Gay
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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Roxane Gay, the author of the popular and critically acclaimed “Bad Feminist,” is releasing her next book, “Hunger, A Memoir of (My) Body,” Tuesday (June 13).

Gay, an associate professor of English at Purdue University, has written a memoir about food, weight, self-image and learning how to feed hunger while taking care of oneself. Her story is about a loving childhood and family, but then how she turned to food to cope after experiencing a devastating act of sexual violence.

Gay writes, “I ate and ate and ate in the hopes that if I made myself big, my body would be safe. I buried the girl I was because she ran into all kinds of trouble. I tried to erase every memory of her, but she is still there, somewhere. … I was trapped in my body, one that I barely recognized or understood, but at least I was safe."

She also is the author of the novel “An Untamed State” and the story collections “Ayiti” and “Difficult Women,” as well as the author of “World of Wakanda” for Marvel. “An Untamed State” was a finalist for the Dayton Peace Prize.

Gay's work has appeared in Time, The Nation, Book Forum, Salon, Glamour, and the New York Times Book Review among other places, and she also is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. Her short fiction also has been selected for “The Best American Short Stories 2012,” “The Best American Mystery Stories 2014,” as well as other anthologies. In 2015, PEN Center USA honored Gay with the Freedom to Write Award.

In May, Gay was named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People. She also spoke at the June 3-4 Bay Area Book Festival, which is an indoor and outdoor festival featuring 200 local, national and international authors and speakers who embrace literary activism.

Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, 765-494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Media contacts: Kate D’Esmond, 212-207-7362, kate.desmond@harpercollins.com

Amanda Pelletier, 212-207-7687, amanda.pelletier@harperscollins.com