“I ate and ate and ate in the hopes that if I made myself big, my body would be safe. I buried the girl I was because she ran into all kinds of trouble. I tried to erase every memory of her, but she is still there, somewhere. . . . I was trapped in my body, one that I barely recognized or understood, but at least I was safe.”
In her phenomenally popular essays and long-running Tumblr blog, Roxane Gay has written with intimacy and sensitivity about food and body, using her own emotional and psychological struggles as a means of exploring our shared anxieties over pleasure, consumption, appearance, and health. As a woman who describes her own body as “wildly undisciplined,” Roxane understands the tension between desire and denial, between self-comfort and self-care. In Hunger, she explores her past—including the devastating act of violence that acted as a turning point in her young life—and brings readers along on her journey to understand and ultimately save herself.
With the bracing candor, vulnerability, and power that have made her one of the most admired writers of her generation, Roxane explores what it means to learn to take care of yourself: how to feed your hungers for delicious and satisfying food, a smaller and safer body, and a body that can love and be loved—in a time when the bigger you are, the smaller your world becomes.
“I ate and ate and ate in the hopes that if I made myself big, my body would be safe. I buried the girl I was because she ran into all kinds of trouble. I tried to erase every memory of her, but she is still there, somewhere. . . . I was trapped in my body, one that I barely recognized or understood, but at least I was safe.”
In her phenomenally popular essays and long-running Tumblr blog, Roxane Gay has written with intimacy and sensitivity about food and body, using her own emotional and psychological struggles as a means of exploring our shared anxieties over pleasure, consumption, appearance, and health. As a woman who describes her own body as “wildly undisciplined,” Roxane understands the tension between desire and denial, between self-comfort and self-care. In Hunger, she explores her past—including the devastating act of violence that acted as a turning point in her young life—and brings readers along on her journey to understand and ultimately save herself.
With the bracing candor, vulnerability, and power that have made her one of the most admired writers of her generation, Roxane explores what it means to learn to take care of yourself: how to feed your hungers for delicious and satisfying food, a smaller and safer body, and a body that can love and be loved—in a time when the bigger you are, the smaller your world becomes.
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Find Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body Roxane Gay in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
Find Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body Roxane Gay in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
3 books in catalog
Cultural criticism and personal memoir intersect sharply in contemporary essay collections that examine power, gender, race, and pop culture. Roxane Gay established a distinct voice in modern prose with her essay collection Bad Feminist, which offers a nuanced examination of embracing feminist ideals while engaging with flawed media and culture.
Through her widely read collections, novels, and editorial projects, Gay brings an unsparing yet accessible analytical lens to systemic inequality and personal vulnerability. Her work spans multiple genres, ranging from deeply personal non-fiction like Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body to comic books and edited anthologies.
Roxane Gay was born on October 15, 1974, and built an extensive career as a writer, editor, professor, and social commentator. She has served as the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University, after previously holding academic appointments as an associate professor of English at Purdue University. Beyond academia, her shorter writings have been widely featured across diverse literary journals and national periodicals, including Harper's Bazaar, A Public Space, McSweeney's, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, NOON, Time, The Nation, The Rumpus, Salon, and The Guardian.
Gay's shorter fiction and non-fiction earned early prominence through inclusion in major literary anthologies, including Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, and Best Sex Writing 2012. As a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, she has authored commentary on modern culture and society, alongside writing the "Work Friend" advice column. She has also served as co-editor of the literary magazine PANK, written the comic book series World of Wakanda for Marvel, and curated influential collections such as The Portable Feminist Reader.
Gay's prose is characterized by directness, clarity, and an uncompromising exploration of complex cultural themes. Her non-fiction frequently addresses body image, trauma, intersectionality, labor, and media consumption, balancing rigorous social commentary with personal candor. By examining her own relationship to media and social structures, she crafts critiques that invite readers to evaluate cultural norms without demanding ideological perfection.
In her work across fiction and non-fiction, narrative tension often centers on power dynamics, trauma recovery, and female agency. Her short stories and novels employ sharp observational detail and emotional precision to portray characters navigating intense personal and structural hardship. Whether examining Black feminism, disability, ecofeminism, or pop culture, her writing remains dedicated to expanding the scope of feminist discourse through multicultural and multifaceted perspectives.
3 books in catalog
Cultural criticism and personal memoir intersect sharply in contemporary essay collections that examine power, gender, race, and pop culture. Roxane Gay established a distinct voice in modern prose with her essay collection Bad Feminist, which offers a nuanced examination of embracing feminist ideals while engaging with flawed media and culture.
Through her widely read collections, novels, and editorial projects, Gay brings an unsparing yet accessible analytical lens to systemic inequality and personal vulnerability. Her work spans multiple genres, ranging from deeply personal non-fiction like Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body to comic books and edited anthologies.
Roxane Gay was born on October 15, 1974, and built an extensive career as a writer, editor, professor, and social commentator. She has served as the Gloria Steinem Endowed Chair in Media, Culture and Feminist Studies at Rutgers University, after previously holding academic appointments as an associate professor of English at Purdue University. Beyond academia, her shorter writings have been widely featured across diverse literary journals and national periodicals, including Harper's Bazaar, A Public Space, McSweeney's, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, NOON, Time, The Nation, The Rumpus, Salon, and The Guardian.
Gay's shorter fiction and non-fiction earned early prominence through inclusion in major literary anthologies, including Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, and Best Sex Writing 2012. As a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, she has authored commentary on modern culture and society, alongside writing the "Work Friend" advice column. She has also served as co-editor of the literary magazine PANK, written the comic book series World of Wakanda for Marvel, and curated influential collections such as The Portable Feminist Reader.
Gay's prose is characterized by directness, clarity, and an uncompromising exploration of complex cultural themes. Her non-fiction frequently addresses body image, trauma, intersectionality, labor, and media consumption, balancing rigorous social commentary with personal candor. By examining her own relationship to media and social structures, she crafts critiques that invite readers to evaluate cultural norms without demanding ideological perfection.
In her work across fiction and non-fiction, narrative tension often centers on power dynamics, trauma recovery, and female agency. Her short stories and novels employ sharp observational detail and emotional precision to portray characters navigating intense personal and structural hardship. Whether examining Black feminism, disability, ecofeminism, or pop culture, her writing remains dedicated to expanding the scope of feminist discourse through multicultural and multifaceted perspectives.
