Ross Gay (born August 1, 1974) is an American poet, essayist, and professor of English at Indiana University 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.
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. He received a grant from the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts.
Awards and honors Year Title Award Category Result Ref. 2015 Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude National Book Award Poetry National Book Critics Circle Award Poetry 2016The Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry AwardsKingsley Tufts Poetry Award NAACP Image Awards Poetry Ohioana Book Award Poetry 2020The Book of DelightsIndiana Authors AwardNonfiction 2021 Be Holding: A Poem Ohioana Book Award Poetry PEN/Jean Stein Book Award — 2022Indiana Authors AwardPoetry 2023 Inciting Joy: Essays Hurston/Wright Legacy Award Memoir/Biography Ohioana Book Award Nonfiction 2024 The Book of (More) Delights: Essays Ohioana Book Award Nonfiction Works
With Aimee Nezhukumatathil:
In anthology
Appearances on reality television shows A Dating Story, Episode 110: Jason, Brooke and Ross
See also
American poetry 21st century in poetry
References
External links