Ross Gay

Ross Gay was born on August 1, 1974, in Youngstown, Ohio, but he grew up in Levittown, Pennsylvania.[1]

He received his B.A. from Lafayette College, his MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College,[2] 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 in Bloomington, Indiana, and the low-residency MFA in poetry program at Drew University.[3][4]

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).[5] 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.[6][7]

• 2015 National Book Award for Poetry, finalist for Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude[8]
• 2016 National Book Critics Circle Award (Poetry), winner for Catalogue of Unabashed Gratitude[9]
• 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, winner for Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude[10]

• 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.
• 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.

In anthology

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

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

• Official website

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