Roxane Gay reads from her book “Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body”

Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Author and cultural critic Roxane Gay spoke on Thursday, March 7, 2019, as part of Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC)’s Compelling Conversations Series.

Named “America’s brightest new essayist” by The Guardian, Gay is the author of New York Times bestsellers Bad Feminist and Difficult Women. She recently became the first black woman to write for Marvel, penning a comic series in the Black Panther universe called World of Wakanda.

Gay’s work garners international acclaim for its reflective, no-holds barred exploration of feminism and social criticism. At Thursday’s event, she read excerpts of Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, a book that explores what it means to be overweight in a world where body size and image is a focal point, and the struggle of overcoming trauma.

From Hunger, Gay shared with the audience her distaste of exercise, her love for Ina Garten and The Barefoot Contessa and the joy that comes from enjoying the Haitian cuisine of her childhood, before opening the discussion to student questions.

“When I write, especially when I write something personal, I tell myself that no one is going to read my work,” said Gay when asked how she’s able to balance truth in storytelling with personal humility. “If I think too much about audience, then I’m not going to have the courage to say the kinds of things that I most need to say, and I’m not going to be as honest as I need to be on the page.”

Prior to the presentation, Gay met with BHCC faculty to discuss how her works have been integrated into the College’s curriculum, shared her views on trigger warnings in an educational institution with members of the recently initiated BHCC Faculty and Staff Book Club and visited students studying African American Women and Literature.

Join us for upcoming speaker events:

Seng Ty | April 25
Author of The Years of Zero
BHCC’s 2018-2019 One Book Selection