I write toward both idealism and reality - how things are and how I wish they could be. — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
I don't want the whole of my writing or my intellectual energy given over to race because I have diverse interests. — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
“I often say that reading and writing saved my life. I mean that quite literally.” — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
Just write and love what you're writing. And if you're not loving what you're writing, take a look at why and fix… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
I look at my older writing to see where my weaknesses are and then I try to address those weaknesses and make… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
Writing, at its best and truest, can offer solace and salvation for both readers and writers. — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
Most of the time, writing is a lot of fun, and not a small amount of self-medication. — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
“Girls is a fine example of someone writing what she knows and the painful limitations of doing so.” — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
I write for myself, first and foremost and I also write for people, mostly women, who just want to be seen and… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
“One of the many things I have always loved about writing, not to be confused with publishing, is that all you need… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
I am fine with my books being categorized as African-American literature but I hope they are also considered Haitian-American literature and American… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
With my writing, I generally just pretend that no one's reading it. I allow myself that delusion so that I can write… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
My dream was to write a book and see it published. I didn't dare imagine anything beyond that, so, I'm trying to… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
“I want characters to do bad things and get away with their misdeeds. I want characters to think ugly thoughts and make… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
A lot of ink is given over to mythologizing female friendships as curious, fragile relationships that are always intensely fraught. Stop reading… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
It's gut instinct that helps me determine how to write a story. I love the surreal because I am faced with the… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
I wrote myself back together. I wrote myself toward a stronger version of myself . . . Through writing and feminism, I… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
I am human. I am messy. I'm not trying to be an example. I am not trying to be perfect. I am… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
Writing has always allowed me to escape. I was a very lonely child. Because I was very socially awkward, I would always… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
“I embrace the label of bad feminist because I am human. I am messy. I’m not trying to be an example. I… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
Definitely, there is a sense in my writing that people now know me in a personal way. And to an extent, that's… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
Knowing that a story needs to be told is a great motivator, even if telling a given story comes at a price.… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
“I loved the escape of writing those stories, of imagining lives that were different from my own. I had a ferocious imagination.… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
I love Twitter. It doesn't keep me from writing and I think it's a really convenient scapegoat when the truth is that… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
“Narratives about certain experiences are somehow legitimized when mediated through a man’s perspective. Consider the work of John Updike or Richard Yates.… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
It is deeply unfair to task writers of color with unique responsibilities that we don't assign to all writers. — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
I read constantly because there is so much to learn from the writing in the world. — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
I love writing fiction because I can totally lose myself and I get to make up the rules of the world that… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
I probably write the same story a hundred different ways. I suppose right now I am looking for the 101st different way… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
The actual act of writing brings me such pleasure - to tell stories, to engage in cultural criticism, to reflect, to question,… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
I've always wanted to be a writer. I've been writing since I was probably four years old - it was nonsense, but… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
“I am nowhere near as brave as people believe me to be. As a writer, armed with words, I can do anything,… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
When I write on Twitter, I do other things: I'm working, grading, or reading, and I'm procrastinating, and I'll pop on Twitter… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
“I was a little resentful that when a woman writes, her personal story becomes part of the story, even though the novel… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
“I often tell my students that fiction is about desire in one way or another. The older I get, the more I… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
I live in the middle of nowhere and I'm an insomniac. I just make the time and I read and write really… — Roxane Gay Copy Share Image
“Human endurance fascinates me, probably too much because more often than not, I think of life in terms of enduring instead of living.” — Roxane Gay Copy Share
No woman or man is any one thing and the men in my stories, well, some of them are good and some of them… — Roxane Gay Copy Share
“I was a daydreamer and I resented being pulled out of my daydreams to deal with the business of living.” — Roxane Gay Copy Share
Feminism is, I hope, a way to a better future for everyone who inhabits this world. Feminism should not be something that needs a… — Roxane Gay Copy Share
Fiction offers escape but it also interrogates the world we live in, whether the past, present or future. — Roxane Gay Copy Share
“I've noticed while cooking, how ingredients in their individual and naked state and be a bit repulsive but necessary, kind of like people.” — Roxane Gay Copy Share
“I shouted, “This is not right,” knowing my words were useless. There’s no room for such distinctions in a country where too many people… — Roxane Gay Copy Share
Most of my favorite tweets go completely ignored but most of my favorite tweets are probably really lame or inside jokes between me and… — Roxane Gay Copy Share
“What about other women of color? For Hispanic and Latina women, Indian women, Middle Eastern women, Asian women, their absence in popular culture is… — Roxane Gay Copy Share
There has been, and there will continue to be, vigorous discussions about race in America. I worry that little will come of these discussions… — Roxane Gay Copy Share
Writing, at its best and truest, can offer solace and salvation for both readers and writers. — Roxane Gay Copy Share
“I knew I was in love with The Hunger Games when I did not want to get off the treadmill” — Roxane Gay Copy Share
“Celebrities understand the economy of thinness, and most of them are willing to participate in that economy, taking to social media, where they pose… — Roxane Gay Copy Share
