Roxane Gay, cultural critic, bestselling author, professor, and very funny speaker and Twitterer, visited campus Monday night. Some reported the crowd as the largest here in recent memory for a visiting speaker.
Thank you @rgay for your brilliance, humor and generosity at Bowdoin College tonight! Word is it was the largest audience event in recent history (I don't like to say ever) It was HUGE. https://t.co/fGmi2EErAx
— Judith Casselberry (@jscasselberry) March 27, 2018
@rgay Never seen a line like this for an evening talk! Lucky to be in overflow seating with live video! pic.twitter.com/Q3qMN4GOJk
— Hadley Horch (@hhorch) March 26, 2018Please let these kids in! It’s freezing outside. https://t.co/ZGArYbNLXW
— roxane gay (@rgay) March 26, 2018
After Associate Dean of Students for Diversity and Inclusion Leana Amaez introduced Gay and the two moderators — professors Jen Scanlon (Bowdoin’s William R. Kenan Professor of the Humanities in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies) and Judith Casselberry (Associate Professor of Africana Studies) — Gay read two excerpts from her new memoir, Hunger, and then took questions.
She spoke — among other topics — about her inspiration to write, the life-changing high school teacher who supported her creativity, her horrifying sexual assault at age 12, her delightful relationships with her students at Purdue University, her epic procrastination techniques, her interactions with fans, and her work on Marvel’s Black Panther: World of Wakanda comic.
I also appreciate her candor about her ability to offer such opinions on whatever stage she'd like--in addition to her incredible fiction and commentary--because she is tenured. The system is deeply flawed, but at least it sometimes generates extraordinarily positive returns.
— Bernadette Doykos (@BDtoDrBD) March 27, 2018
The evening was part of Bowdoin’s celebration of Women’s History Month, and helps to set up two upcoming community reads of Gay’s book, Bad Feminist — one for students and one for faculty and staff. The discussion for students will be Wednesday, March 28, at 4 p.m., in the SWAG Center at 24 College Street. To sign up students can email SWAG@bowdoin.edu. The faculty and staff women’s book discussion will also be that Wednesday, at noon for lunch in Daggett Lounge. Email acliffor@bowdoin.edu.
Photos by Michele Stapleton
