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Ross Gay
Ross Gay at Split This Rock 2016
Born	(1974-08-01) August 1, 1974 (age 50) Youngstown, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation	Professor, founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Lafayette College, Sarah Lawrence College, Temple University
Genre	Poetry
Notable works	Against Which (2006), Bringing the Shovel Down (2011), Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude (2014)
Notable awards	2016 Kingsley Tufts Award, 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry, 2015 National Book Award Finalist, 2015 Radcliffe Fellow, 2013 Guggenheim Fellow, Cave Canem Fellow
Website
rossgay.net

Ross Gay (born August 1, 1974) is an American poet, essayist, and professor who won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award for his 2014 book Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, which was also a finalist for the National Book Award for Poetry.

Life

Ross Gay was born on August 1, 1974, 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.

He is a founding editor, with Karissa Chen and Patrick Rosal, of the online sports magazine Some Call it Ballin'. He is also 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, Pennsylvania, and Montclair State University in New Jersey. He now teaches at Indiana University Bloomington and the low-residency MFA in poetry program at Drew University. He is gay.

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

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.

Awards and honors

• 2015 National Book Award for Poetry, finalist for Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude
• 2016 National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry, winner for Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitude
• 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, winner for Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude
• 2022 Indiana Authors Award for Poetry

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.
• With Aimee Nezhukumatathil: 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.
• The Book of Delights: Essays. Algonquin Books. 12 February 2019. ISBN 978-1616207922.
• Be Holding. University of Pittsburgh Press. 8 September 2020. ISBN 978-0822966234.
• Inciting Joy: Essays. Algonquin Books. 25 October 2022. ISBN 978-1643753041.
• The Book of (More) Delights: Essays. Algonquin Books. 19 September 2023. ISBN 978-1643753096.

In anthology

• Melissa Tuckey, ed. (2018). Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0820353159.

Appearances on reality television shows

• A Dating Story, Episode 110: Jason, Brooke and Ross

See also

• American poetry
• 21st century in poetry

References

1. "The Southeast Review > Antidote to Distraction: An Interview with Ross Gay". Archived from the original on 2020-01-09. Retrieved 2013-07-17.
2. "Lafayette College > Alumni News > Ross Gay '96 Returns to Help Students". Archived from the original on 2006-09-02. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
3. "Indiana University > IU Newsroom > October 15, 2009 > IU Poet Ross Gay Shares His 'Waves of Inspiration' ". Archived from the original on April 22, 2016. Retrieved October 15, 2009.
4. "Indiana University - Bloomington > Department of English Faculty > Ross Gay". Archived from the original on 2009-06-14. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
5. "Persea Books Website > "From the Fishouse" Book Page". Archived from the original on 2009-09-18. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
6. "Interview: The Cortland Review > Issue 41, November 2008 > A Conversation with Ross Gay by Joanna Penn Cooper". Archived from the original on 2010-01-06. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
7. "Indiana University > IU Newsroom > October 15, 2009 > IU Poet Ross Gay Shares His 'Waves of Inspiration' ". Archived from the original on April 22, 2016. Retrieved October 15, 2009.
8. "2015 National Book Awards". www.nationalbook.org. Archived from the original on 24 October 2018. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
9. Alexandra Alter (March 17, 2016). "'The Sellout' Wins National Book Critics Circle's Fiction Award". New York Times. Archived from the original on March 18, 2016. Retrieved March 18, 2016.
10. "Previous Winners & Finalists — Tufts Poetry Awards". Tufts Poetry Awards. Archived from the original on 12 June 2017. Retrieved 8 July 2018.
11. "2022 Awards". Indiana Authors Awards. Archived from the original on 2023-11-01. Retrieved 2023-11-01.

External links

• Official website

• 1974 births
• 21st-century American poets
• American male poets
• Lafayette College alumni
• Living people
• People from Bucks County, Pennsylvania
• Poets from Pennsylvania
• Poets from Indiana
• Sarah Lawrence College alumni
• Temple University alumni
• Writers from Youngstown, Ohio
• Writers from Bloomington, Indiana
• 21st-century American male writers
• Lafayette College faculty
• Montclair State University faculty
• Indiana University faculty
• Drew University faculty