Ross Gay

Ross Gay (born August 1, 1974) is an American poet and professor. Along with a National Book Critics Circle Award for poetry, he is the author of the New York Times best-selling collection of essays, “The Book of Delights.” Gay compiled the book for a year’s worth of daily essays about things that delighted him, especially the small actions of individuals that create community. The Book of Delights, he said, “is about how do we attend to the ways that we make each other possible.”[1]

Ross Gay
Ross Gay at Split This Rock 2016
Born (1974-08-01) August 1, 1974
Youngstown, Ohio
OccupationProfessor, founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard
NationalityAmerican
Alma materLafayette College,
Sarah Lawrence College,
Temple University
GenrePoetry
Notable worksAgainst Which (2006), Bringing the Shovel Down (2011), Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude (2014)
Notable awards2016 Kingsley Tufts Award, 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry, 2015 National Book Award Finalist, 2015 Radcliffe Fellow, 2013 Guggenheim Fellow
Website
rossgay.net

Life

Ross Gay, a leading American poet, was born on August 1, 1974 in Youngstown, Ohio, but he grew up in Levittown, Pennsylvania.[2]

He received his B.A. from Lafayette College, his MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College,[3] 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 in Bloomington, Indiana, and the low-residency MFA in poetry program at Drew University.[4][5]

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).[6] 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.[7][8]

Awards and honors

Works
  • Against Which. CavanKerry Press. October 2006. ISBN 978-1-933880-00-6.
  • Bringing the Shovel Down. University of Pittsburgh Press. 23 January 2011. ISBN 978-0-8229-9119-9.
  • Lace and Pyrite: Letters from Two Gardens. Organic Weapon Arts. 2014. ISBN 978-0-9827106-7-8.
  • River. Monster House Press. 1 December 2014.
  • Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude. University of Pittsburgh Press. 16 January 2015. ISBN 978-0822963318.
  • The Book of Delights: Essays. Algonquin Books. 12 February 2019. ISBN 978-1616207922.

In anthology

  • Melissa Tuckey, ed. (2018). Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0820353159.

Appearances on reality television shows
  • A Dating Story, Episode 110: Jason, Brooke and Ross

References
  1. "The Ambassador of Delight". The Attic. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  2. The Southeast Review > Antidote to Distraction: An Interview with Ross Gay
  3. Lafayette College > Alumni News > Ross Gay '96 Returns to Help Students
  4. Indiana University > IU Newsroom > October 15, 2009 > IU Poet Ross Gay Shares His 'Waves of Inspiration'
  5. Indiana University - Bloomington > Department of English Faculty > Ross Gay
  6. Persea Books Website > “From the Fishouse’’ Book Page
  7. Interview: The Cortland Review > Issue 41, November 2008 > A Conversation with Ross Gay by Joanna Penn Cooper
  8. Indiana University > IU Newsroom > October 15, 2009 > IU Poet Ross Gay Shares His 'Waves of Inspiration'
  9. "2015 National Book Awards". www.nationalbook.org. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
  10. Alexandra Alter (March 17, 2016). "'The Sellout' Wins National Book Critics Circle's Fiction Award". New York Times. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
  11. "Previous Winners & Finalists — Tufts Poetry Awards". Tufts Poetry Awards. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
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