Roxane Gay is starting a new imprint at Grove Atlantic.
Roxane Gay is not just an acclaimed writer, she’s a champion of writers: she’s edited The Best American Short Stories, founded Gay Magazine, and launched the Audacious Book Club to promote reading and discussion of powerful new literary voices. Now, she’s continuing her curatorial work by partnering with Grove Atlantic to start her own imprint.
Roxane Gay Books will publish three titles per year, a mixture of fiction, nonfiction, and memoir. “I love having a hand in bringing brilliant writing into the world, and over the past fifteen or so years, I’ve done that in various editorial capacities that have been incredibly gratifying,” Gay told The New York Times. “It has been a lifelong dream to have a literary imprint of my own where I could publish great books and have the support of a storied publishing house behind me.” Gay and Grove Atlantic have had a relationship since 2014, when Grove Atlantic published Gay’s debut novel An Untamed State.
Calls for submissions—for “writing that is beautifully written, provocative, and intelligent from writers who are willing to take risks on the page”—will open on July 1st, and both agented and unagented writers are invited to apply. Roxane Gay Books and Grove Atlantic have also announced a paid one-year fellowship program, intended as a crash course in publishing for candidates who may not have access to the industry through traditional avenues.
Said Grove Atlantic VP and Executive Editor Amy Hundley, who works with Gay: “Roxane is one of those writers who is always reading and falling in love with and recommending other writers, and she has a fabulous eye for talent and a boundless energy for looking where others don’t. I can’t wait to see the treasures she will bring us.”
