Rather, it is a combination memoir and extension of Atlantic columnist Kendi’s towering Stamped From the Beginning (2016) that leads readers through a taxonomy of racist thought to anti-racist action. In fact, the word “woke” appears nowhere within its pages.
Title notwithstanding, this latest from the National Book Award–winning author is no guidebook to getting woke. Whether critiquing problematic pandering tropes in Tyler Perry’s movies or the heavy-handed and often irresponsible way race is dealt with in movies like The Help, 12 Years a Slave or Django Unchained, Gay relentlessly picks apart mainstream depictions of the black experience on-screen and rightfully laments that “all too often critical acclaim for black films is built upon the altar of black suffering or subjugation.”Īn occasionally brilliant, hit-or-miss grab bag of pop-culture criticism.
Yet when it comes to race-related matters (in the section "Race and Entertainment"), Gay’s writing is much more impassioned and persuasive. Although generally well-written, some of these gender-studies essays come off as preachy and dull as a public service announcement-especially the piece about her endless self-questioning of her love-hate relationship with the tacky female-submission fantasies in Fifty Shades of Grey.
Gay explores the reasons for her uneasiness with the term “women’s fiction” and delivers some not-very-convincing attempts to sort out what drives her to both respect and loathe a femalecentric TV show like Lena Dunham’s Girls. However, she makes weak attempts at coming to terms with her ambivalence toward the sort of violent female empowerment depicted in such movies as The Hunger Games. Although the title can be somewhat misleading-she’s more of an inconsistent or conflicted feminist-the author does her best to make up for any feminist flaws by addressing, for instance, the disturbing language bandied about carelessly in what she calls “rape culture” in society-and by Gay’s measure, this is a culture in which even the stately New York Times is complicit. In this diverse collection of short essays, the author launches her critical salvos at seemingly countless waves of pop-cultural cannon fodder. Copyrighted material may not be republished without permission of LSFF.Essayist, novelist and pop-culture guru Gay ( An Untamed State, 2014, etc.) sounds off on the frustrating complexities of gender and race in pop culture and society as a whole. We rely on reader donations to keep the magazine and site going, and would like to keep the site paywall free, but WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT to continue quality coverage of the science fiction and fantasy field. While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or recurring donation.
For more information, including submission details, see the Roxane Gay Books submission page. The Fellowship is named for Gay’s brother, Joel Gay, who was CEO and President of Vanguard Renewables, and died in 2021. The fellowships are open to writers from all backgrounds but I am prioritizing writers from underrepresented communities. Fellows will contract directly with Substack for the stipend.Īdditionally, I will meet with fellows once a month over the course of the year to provide mentorship on both craft and navigating the business of writing. Roxane Gay has announced the Joel Gay Creative Fellowship, designed “to support three emerging writers over the course of the year as they develop and publish a newsletter on the Substack platform.”įellows will receive a $25,000 stipend, paid monthly from the initial publication of their newsletter, as well as up to $15,000 in services from Substack, including editorial support, design assistance in developing a logo for your newsletter, access to Getty Images, Substack Defender, and other business support services.