Senior Fellows Honors Program Hosts Talk by Roxane Gay, Critically Acclaimed Author of "Bad Feminist"

AUSTIN, Texas – Sept. 15, 2014 – Senior Fellows, the honors program of The University of Texas at Austin Moody College of Communication, will host a talk by "Bad Feminist" author Roxane Gay, whom The Guardian calls "America's brightest new essayist."

What does it mean to be a bad feminist? Or a good one? In "Bad Feminist," Gay shows us just how empowering being a bad one can be. But, of course, it depends on what you mean by "bad." Showing humility, anger, humor, love and plenty of wisdom, this daughter of Haitian immigrants, proud Midwesterner and Scrabble-playing "Hunger Games" fanatic, is an eloquent essayist and profound critic redefining what it means to be a feminist for the messy, diverse world we live in.

WHEN: 2-3:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 6

WHERE: Calhoun Hall Rm. 100, 204 W. 21st St. (http://www.utexas.edu/maps/main/buildings/cal.html)

This event is sponsored by the Senior Fellows Honors Program of the Moody College of Communication. Co-sponsors include the Department of English, Michener Center for Writers, Mary Lu Joynes Endowment in the Plan II Honors Program, Department of American Studies, New Writers Project, Department of Communication Studies and the Center for Women's and Gender Studies.

BACKGROUND: Roxane Gay is an assistant professor of English at Eastern Illinois University, where she teaches creative and professional writing. She is the author of the books "Ayiti," "An Untamed State," "Bad Feminist" and "Hunger," forthcoming from Harper in 2016. Her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in "Best American Mystery Stories 2014," "Best American Short Stories 2012," "Best Sex Writing 2012," A Public Space, McSweeney's, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, West Branch, Virginia Quarterly Review, NOON, The New York Times Book Review, Bookforum, Time, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, The Rumpus, Salon and many others. She is also the founder of Tiny Hardcore Press, a contributing editor for Bluestem Magazine, essays editor for The Rumpus and co-editor of PANK, a non-profit literary arts collective.

Contacts: Laura Byerley, (512) 471-2182; Dave Junker, (512) 773-0673.