You have to give people something that they’re going to want to read, especially when you’re writing about really difficult things like racism, fatphobia, homophobia, transphobia, all of these horrible bigotries. “And I think that we underestimate the importance of writing well and creating beautiful sentences. “People need to know that they can trust you, that they can trust what you’re saying and why you’re saying it,” she added. Honesty and integrity are important, too. You can take the class here: /HXqEj元3ln- roxane gay February 18, 2021 I am teaching a MasterClass on writing for social change. You need to be able to back it up with evidence.” “We have a responsibility to do our research so that we are well informed,” she said.
Yet she is careful to distinguish persuasion from the hot takes that permeate Twitter and other social platforms (on which she is heavily engaged). “Writing is a great way of reaching people because you get to give them as much information as you think is necessary for them to reconsider whatever point of view that they might have,” said Gay. Taken together, Gay’s work models writing that unabashedly encompasses the personal and the political, and so will her class. And her memoir “Hunger” was widely acclaimed. “Difficult Women,” a short-story collection, was well received by critics and readers. But she’s best known for her writing, beginning in 2011 with her short-story collection “Ayiti,” followed by her first novel “An Untamed State.” “Bad Feminist” (2014) became a New York Times best seller on the strength of essays defining feminism through a wide array of influences, including “ The Help” (not a fan) and “Sweet Valley High” (very much a fan). She served as associate professor of English at Eastern Illinois and Purdue universities and most recently, as a visiting professor at Yale University. “The class is for practicing writers who want to develop their opinion writing skills, but it’s also for new writers who maybe have not considered writing before but do have an opinion, an idea or something they want to say and would like to know where to start.” The classes mostly focus on prose - fiction and nonfiction - but people who write in other genres can learn from them too, said Gay in a video interview Thursday.
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“In my new MasterClass, I’m going to teach you how to own your identity, write about trauma with courage and care, and approach writing through the lens of culture and personal experience,” said Gay on her Instagram. On Thursday, she joined a roster of art and industry luminaries to teach a MasterClass on writing for social change. The editor, professor, cultural critic and author of the best-selling essay collection “Bad Feminist” and the memoir “Hunger,” Gay has earned a devoted fan base of readers and rapt lecture audiences with well-honed thoughts on the intersections of race, gender, sexuality and class along with other social issues. Roxane Gay knows the power of the written word.