Roxane Gay: Quick Facts

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Oct. 11, 2026

Facts

Born	October 15, 1974 (age 52) • Omaha • Nebraska
Notable Works	“An Untamed State” • “Bad Feminist” • “Difficult Women” • “Graceful Burdens” • “Hear to Slay” • “Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body” • “Opinions: A Decade of Arguments, Criticisms, and Minding Other People’s Business” • “The Sacrifice of Darkness”

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James Baldwin stands against a plain background in a dress shirt and tie, arms crossed, holding a cigarette, looking directly at the camera.

James Baldwin

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Theodore Dreiser

Theodore Dreiser

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Joyce Carol Oates, 2012

Joyce Carol Oates

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Jamaica Kincaid

Jamaica Kincaid

Caribbean American author

Paul Auster

Paul Auster

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Stein, Gertrude

Gertrude Stein

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Gil Kane

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Louis Auchincloss (centre) with Pres. George W. Bush and Laura Bush after receiving the National Medal of Arts, 2005.

Louis Auchincloss

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Eudora Welty

Eudora Welty

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Mary Austin.

Mary Austin

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Claude McKay

Claude McKay

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William Saroyan.

William Saroyan

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Wright Morris

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Richard G. Stern

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Rebecca Blaine Harding Davis

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Harold Brodkey

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Mark Twain

Mark Twain

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Henry James

Henry James

American writer

Portrait of Jack Kerouac, American novelist and poet, looking over his shoulder in a collared shirt, circa 1965.

Jack Kerouac

American writer

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Tillie Olsen

American author