Ross Gay
{{short description|American poet and professor (born 1974)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Ross Gay
| honorific_prefix =
| honorific_suffix =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image = Ross gay 4142544.jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Ross Gay at Split This Rock 2016
| pseudonym =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1974|08|01}}
| birth_place = Youngstown, Ohio, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| resting_place =
| occupation = Professor, founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard
| language =
| nationality = American
| ethnicity =
| citizenship =
| education =
| alma_mater = Lafayette College,
Sarah Lawrence College,
Temple University
| period =
| genre = Poetry
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks = Against Which (2006), Bringing the Shovel Down (2011), Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude (2014)
| spouse =
| partner =
| children =
| relatives =
| awards = 2016 Kingsley Tufts Award, 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry, 2015 National Book Award Finalist, 2015 Radcliffe Fellow, 2013 Guggenheim Fellow, Cave Canem Fellow
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| module =
| website = {{URL|http://rossgay.net/}}
| portaldisp =
}}
Ross Gay (born August 1, 1974) is an American poet, essayist, and professor of English at Indiana University who won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award for his 2014 book Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, which was also a finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry.
Life
Ross Gay was born on August 1, 1974, in Youngstown, Ohio, but he grew up in Levittown, Pennsylvania.{{Cite web |url=http://southeastreview.org/2008/06/ross-gay.html |title=The Southeast Review > Antidote to Distraction: An Interview with Ross Gay |access-date=2013-07-17 |archive-date=2020-01-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109153151/https://www.southeastreview.org/2008/06/ross-gay.html |url-status=live }}
He received his B.A. from Lafayette College, his MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College,{{Cite web |url=http://www.lafayette.edu/news.php/view/98/ |title=Lafayette College > Alumni News > Ross Gay '96 Returns to Help Students |access-date=2009-10-15 |archive-date=2006-09-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902025247/http://www.lafayette.edu/news.php/view/98/ |url-status=live }} and his Ph.D. in American Literature from Temple University.
He is a founding editor, with Karissa Chen and Patrick Rosal, of the online sports magazine Some Call it Ballin{{'}}. He is also an editor with the chapbook presses Q Avenue and Ledge Mule Press. He is a founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a non-profit, free-fruit-for-all food justice and joy project.
He has taught poetry, art, and literature at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, and Montclair State University in New Jersey. He now teaches at Indiana University Bloomington and the low-residency MFA in poetry program at Drew University.{{Cite web |url=http://newsinfo.iu.edu/web/page/normal/9173.html |title=Indiana University > IU Newsroom > October 15, 2009 > IU Poet Ross Gay Shares His 'Waves of Inspiration' |access-date=October 15, 2009 |archive-date=April 22, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422080439/http://newsinfo.iu.edu/web/page/normal/9173.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.iub.edu/~engweb/faculty/Ross-Gay.html |title=Indiana University - Bloomington > Department of English Faculty > Ross Gay |access-date=2009-10-15 |archive-date=2009-06-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090614105830/http://www.iub.edu/~engweb/faculty/Ross-Gay.html |url-status=live }}
His poems have appeared in literary journals and magazines including The American Poetry Review; Harvard Review; Columbia: A Journal of Poetry; Art, Margie: The American Journal of Poetry; and Atlanta Review. His poetry has also appeared in anthologies including From the Fishouse (Persea Books, 2009).{{Cite web |url=http://www.perseabooks.com/detail.php?bookID=47 |title=Persea Books Website > "From the Fishouse" Book Page |access-date=2009-10-15 |archive-date=2009-09-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090918175845/http://www.perseabooks.com/detail.php?bookID=47 |url-status=live }} His essays have appeared in The Paris Review.
His honors include being a Cave Canem Workshop fellow and a Bread Loaf Writers' Conference Tuition Scholar, and he received a grant from the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cortlandreview.com/issue/41/gay_i.html |title=Interview: The Cortland Review > Issue 41, November 2008 > A Conversation with Ross Gay by Joanna Penn Cooper |access-date=2009-10-15 |archive-date=2010-01-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106015121/http://cortlandreview.com/issue/41/gay_i.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |url=http://newsinfo.iu.edu/web/page/normal/9173.html |title=Indiana University > IU Newsroom > October 15, 2009 > IU Poet Ross Gay Shares His 'Waves of Inspiration' |access-date=October 15, 2009 |archive-date=April 22, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422080439/http://newsinfo.iu.edu/web/page/normal/9173.html |url-status=live }}
Awards and honors
Works
- {{cite book|title=Against Which|date=October 2006|publisher=CavanKerry Press|isbn=9781933880006}}
- {{cite book|title=Bringing the Shovel Down|date=23 January 2011|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|isbn=9780822991199}}
- With Aimee Nezhukumatathil: {{cite book|title=Lace and Pyrite: Letters from Two Gardens|date=2014|publisher=Organic Weapon Arts|isbn=9780982710678}}
- {{cite book|title=River|date=1 December 2014|publisher=Monster House Press}}
- {{cite book|title=Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude|date=16 January 2015|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|isbn=9780822963318}}
- {{cite book|title=The Book of Delights: Essays|date=12 February 2019|publisher=Algonquin Books|isbn=9781616207922}}
- {{cite book|title=Be Holding|date=8 September 2020|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|isbn=9780822966234}}
- {{cite book|title=Inciting Joy: Essays|date=25 October 2022|publisher=Algonquin Books|isbn=9781643753041}}
- {{cite book |title=The Book of (More) Delights: Essays |date=19 September 2023 |publisher=Algonquin Books |isbn=9781643753096}}
In anthology
- {{cite book|title=Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology|editor=Melissa Tuckey|date=2018|publisher=University of Georgia Press|isbn=9780820353159}}
Appearances on reality television shows
- A Dating Story, Episode 110: Jason, Brooke and Ross{{fact|date=July 2022}}
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|https://www.rossgay.net/}}
{{Commons cat|Ross Gay}}
{{wikiquote}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gay, Ross}}
Category:21st-century American poets
Category:Lafayette College alumni
Category:People from Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Category:Poets from Pennsylvania
Category:Sarah Lawrence College alumni
Category:Temple University alumni
Category:Writers from Youngstown, Ohio
Category:Writers from Bloomington, Indiana
Category:21st-century American male writers
Category:Lafayette College faculty
Category:Montclair State University faculty