ABOUT ROSS

Ross Gay

Ross Gay is interested in joy.

Ross Gay wants to understand joy.

Ross Gay is curious about joy.

Ross Gay studies joy.

Something like that.

~

Ross Gay is the author of four books of poetry: Against WhichBringing the Shovel Down; Be Holding, winner of the PEN American Literary Jean Stein Award; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. In addition to his poetry, Ross has released three collections of essays—The Book of Delights was released in 2019 and was a New York Times bestseller; Inciting Joy was released in 2022, and his newest collection, The Book of (More) Delights was released in September of 2023.

PRESS KIT

Bio

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High Resolution Book Covers

Photographs

Click on each photo for a link to a high resolution version. All photos by Natasha Komoda.


INTERVIEWS & CONVERSATIONS

Listen

Ross Gay on inciting joy while dining with sorrow, NPR (02/2023)

Inviting Sorrow in for Tea, Tricycle Magazine podcast (04/2023)

How to Incite Joy with Ross Gay, The One You Feed podcast (04/2023)

Joy, with Ross Gay, Fireside podcast (04/2023)

“That Notebook Might Be Magic”: A Conversation With Ross Gay, On The Same Page podcast (03/2023)

Exploring the Transformative Power of Writing and Vulnerability with Ross Gay, Think Unbroken podcast (03/2023)

Ross Gay on Inciting Joy Inner States (10/2022)

"GERMINATE", The Clever Creature Podcast (08/2021)

"Words to Set You Free," CodeSwitch, NPR (07/2021)

The Sewanee Review podcast (05/2021)

Ross Gay on "Dilate Your Heart," WNYC (04/2021)

"Poet Ross Gay focuses on everyday delights," Oregon Public Broadcasting (04/2021)

Interview with The Creative Independent (02/2021)

"2021 Is A Mess. Here’s How To Stay Positive," WBEZ's Nerdette Podcast (01/2021)

Between The Covers (01/ 2021)

"The Growing Edge Podcast" (11/2020)

"The Book of Delights," Living on Earth (02/2020)

"Ep. 73: Ross Gay — Attending to the Love That Surrounds Us," Think, Act, Be Podcast (01/2020)

This American Life, NPR (01/2020)

Poets & Writers Podcast (12/2019)

"Unabashed Gratitude & Structures of Care, with Poet Gardner Ross Gay," "Cultivating Place", North State Public Radio (11/2019)

"365 Days Of Delight: A Poet's Guide To Finding Joy," Wisconsin Public Radio (10/2019)

"Tending Joy and Practicing Delight," On Being (07/2019)

"Podcast 223: Why You Should Step Off a Cliff, an Interview with Writer Ross Gay, and a Tribute to Someone Dear to My Family," Happier Podcast with Gretchen Rubin (05/2019)

"Episode 39: Delight in the Unexpected," Science of Happiness podcast, Greater Good Magazine (04/2019)

"Fully Booked" podcast with Kirkus Reviews (04/2019)

"Episode 25," Commonplace Interview (04/2019)

"Poet Ross Gay finds delight even in difficult times," Minnesota Public Radio (03/2019)

NPR All Things Considered (02/2019)

Interview with Superstition Review (11/2017)

Words on a Wire Interview with Ross Gay (07/2017)

Interview with Kaveh Akbar for DiveDapper (11/2015)

"Poet and Professor Ross Gay," Profiles (02/2014)

"Ross Gay and Aimee Nezhukumatathil Discuss Gardens and Collaborative Poetry," Orion Magazine (02/2014)

"Natural Poetry," Living on Earth (06/2010)

Read

Beholding Black Life: A Conversation with Ross Gay, Frank Guridy, & Deborah Paredez (06/2022)

Interview with Nadia Colburn (12/2021)

Interview with Brooklyn Poets (11/2021)

"An Interview with Ross Gay," Sunlight Press (11/2020)

Delightful Observation: An Interview With Ross Gay, Writers Digest (6/2020)

Interview with Shelf Awareness (02/2019)

An interview with On The Record, WYPR (02/2019)

Interview with The Rumpus (02/2019)

Interview with The Writer Mag (06/2019)

"The Terrible and the Beautiful," Los Angeles Review of Books (11/2016)

"A Garden of Gratitude," The Christian Century (07/2016)

"Theorizing Delight: An Interview with Ross Gay," The Common (05/2019)

"Poet Ross Gay is on a roll: He talks gardens and gratitude," Los Angeles Times (02/2016)

"Dinnerview: Ross Gay," Entropy (12/2015)

"Wild Love: Ross Gay on the connections between gardening and poetry," The Poetry Foundation (10/2015)

The PEN Ten with Ross Gay, Interview with Nicole Sealy (07/2015)

Interview with The Rumpus (03/2015)

Interview with Barely South Review (Winter, 2015)

Interview with Todd Davis, Interdisciplinary Literary Studies (2013)

Interview with Indiana University (2013)

Interview with Brian Brodeur at How a Poem Happens (03/2011)