Ross Gay

Ross Gay is an American poet and professor.

Life

Ross Gay was born August 1, 1974 to a Black father and white mother in Youngstown, Ohio, but he grew up in Levittown, Pennsylvania. He received his B.A. from Lafayette College, his MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College, and his Ph.D. in American Literature from Temple University, and is a founding editor, with Karissa Chen and Patrick Rosal, of the online sports magazine Some Call it Ballin', in addition to being 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, PA 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.

His poems have appeared in literary journals and magazines including American Poetry Review, Harvard Review, Columbia: A Journal of Poetry and Art, Margie: The American Journal of Poetry and Atlanta Review, and in anthologies including From the Fishouse (Persea Books, 2009). 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.

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. 

References

External links

• Essay: Some Thoughts on Mercy
• Audio Interview: NHPR > Poet Ross Gay Interviewed by Liz Bulkley > Friday, February 23, 2007
• Audio Reading: Ross Gay Reads for From the Fishouse
• Interview: The Cortland Review > Issue 41, November 2008 > A Conversation with Ross Gay by Joanna Penn Cooper
• Author Page: CavanKerry Press > Author Ross Gay
• Poem: The American Poetry Review > Vol. 35, No. 5 > Two Bikers Embrace on Broad Street by Ross Gay
• Ploughshares > Authors > Ross Gay