Teaches Writing for Social Change

Roxane Gay

Roxane Gay is a professor, New York Times columnist, and the bestselling author of Bad Feminist. She opens with some of her history and what she’ll be teaching you in her class.

Meet Your Instructor

Roxane shares her perspective as a Black feminist, explaning how her identity has informed her work and desire to make change. She also speaks about the influence of Audre Lorde, the celebrated writer and activist, on her thinking and writing.

Writing as a Black Feminist

Roxane’s work has challenged a wide variety of audiences to see things differently. In this lesson, she reveals her approach by walking you through some of her most famous pieces that speak truth to power.

Challenging Ideas and Changing Minds

Getting started is one of the most challenging parts of writing. Roxane gives you the right questions to ask yourself so you can begin your work.

Getting Started as a Writer

Roxane breaks down her writing process and gives you guidance on how to develop your own process. She also covers writer’s block and flexibility.

Roxane’s Writing Process

Roxane offers bite-sized tricks that will help make your writing more persuasive and engaging.

Roxane’s Writing Toolbox

Can research be sexy? Maybe! Roxane teaches you how vital research is to the writing process and how you can best approach research in your writing.

Research

Get a deep dive into the processes of revising, editing, and proofreading. Roxane discusses how to edit yourself, what you should look for in feedback from others, and how you know when a piece is finished.

Self-Editing: Re-Visioning Your Work

Roxane frames much of her feminism and social commentary through the lens of culture. She explores the practical aspects of approaching cultural criticism and takes a look at some renowned essays from her book Bad Feminist.

Consuming and Criticizing Culture

Learn how to write about trauma with care and courage. Roxane offers excerpts from her book Hunger and the short story “La Negra Blanca” from Difficult Women as examples.

Writing About Trauma

In this writing workshop, Roxane speaks to Rose, a writer working to explore a pervasive societal issue in essay form.

Writer’s Workshop: Feedback

In this writing workshop, Roxane works with Chanel, a writer working on an essay connecting two seemingly unrelated life experiences to speak to a deeper cultural issue.

Writer’s Workshop: Common Ground

In this writing workshop, Roxane gives feedback to Andi, a writer looking to get a piece of short fiction to the next stage of revision after a long period of being on the shelf.

Writer’s Workshop: Finding Your Voice

Roxane has been called “the best thing to happen to Twitter.” She discusses the why and how of engaging with an audience through social media.

Engaging With Your Readers

Roxane talks about how having a day job can take the pressure off the art-making and create the space necessary to make great work.

Having a Day Job

Find out how to get your work into the world, step by step.

The Business of Writing

Finding literary representation can be one of the most critical and daunting parts of a writing career. Roxane emphasizes the importance of protecting your intellectual property and how an agent can help.

Finding an Agent

Learn the specifics of getting a book published and why becoming familiar with the business side of things will put you in a position to get the most out of publishing your work.

Getting Published

Roxane talks about the value of paying it forward. She aims to instill in you a sense of duty to the literary community.

Becoming a Good Literary Citizen

Roxane encourages you to get your work on the page and put your dreams out into the world.

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