Roxane Gay on the Critical Role of Imagination Right Now

Hosted by Paul Holdengräber, The Quarantine Tapes chronicles shifting paradigms in the age of social distancing. Each day, Paul calls a guest for a brief discussion about how they are experiencing the global pandemic.

Today on episode 81 of The Quarantine Tapes, Paul Holdengräber and writer Roxane Gay catch up on how she has been spending her time in quarantine baking, gardening, and reading. They also talk in-depth about Roxane’s recent article in The New York Times, “How We Save Ourselves,” on the subject of racism and police brutality. She elaborates on the critical role of imagination in our response to the current moment. Roxane offers a thoughtful perspective on the need to sustain the energy of ongoing movements against racism and police brutality.

To listen to the episode, as well as the whole archive of The Quarantine Tapes, subscribe and listen on iTunes or wherever else you find your favorite podcasts.

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Roxane Gay’s writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best American Short Stories 2012, Best Sex Writing 2012, Harper’s Bazaar, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. She is the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, the New York Times bestselling Bad Feminist, the nationally bestselling Difficult Women, and New York Times bestselling Hunger: A Memoir of My Body. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel and the editor of Best American Short Stories 2018. She is currently at work on film and television projects, a book of writing advice, an essay collection about television and culture, and a YA novel entitled The Year I Learned Everything.