Above / Dr. Roxane Gay will give the keynote speech at the 2017 Martin Luther King Jr. Week presentation set for 7PM, Tues., Jan. 17, 2017, at Wentz Concert Hall. Wentz Concert Hall at the Fine Arts Center is located at 171 E. Chicago Avenue on the campus of North Central College.
UPDATE, Jan. 12, 2018 / This page from 2017 is saved in PN’s archive and showing up as “searched” on our analytics today. For several Martin Luther King Day events the week beginning Jan. 14, 2018, at North Central College, check out Things to Do around Town this Weekend.
Original Post, 2017 / North Central College welcomes author, professor and cultural critic Dr. Roxane Gay as its keynote speaker Jan. 17 for the 2017 Martin Luther King Jr. Week celebration. Titled “Roxane Gay: Bad Feminist and Difficult Woman,” her talk will address controversies about feminism and the current political climate.
“Known to be a very engaging speaker, she can tackle subjects like social justice issues and feminism with humor and thoughtfulness,” says Dorothy Pleas, North Central’s director of multicultural affairs.
Her debut novel, “An Untamed State,” established Gay as a talented writer and was long-listed for the 2014 Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize. A fictional depiction of privilege in the face of poverty and redemption over sexual assault, it’s the story of a willful woman attempting to find her way back to the person she once was, and of how redemption is found in the most unexpected of places.
That same year, Gay published the New York Times bestselling collection of essays “Bad Feminist,” an exploration of modern feminism in which she tackles issues such as sexual politics, female friendships, race, body image and competitive Scrabble playing (of which she is an avid player).
Throughout her years as an author, Gay has worked to raise the profile of writers of color. In 2012, she published an extensive list of writers of color on The Rumpus. In “Bad Feminist,” she similarly draws attention to the representation of black lives both on screen and on page. Gay also is recognized as the first black woman to ever write for Marvel in the “Black Panther” comic series titled “World of Wakanda,” in which she began to incorporate black gay women into the comic sphere.
In 2017, Gay will release her highly anticipated memoir, “Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body,” which chronicles her experience with weight and body image, as well as a collection of short stories titled “Difficult Women.”
Gay is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, was coeditor of the online literary magazine PANK and founder of Tiny Hardcore Press. An associate professor of English at Purdue University, she emphasizes the importance of media literacy and cultural criticism.
7PM Tuesday, January 17 at Wentz Concert Hall
Gay will speak at 7PM in the College’s Wentz Concert Hall at the Fine Arts Center, 171 E. Chicago Ave. Tickets are free to the North Central community and $5/person to the public; tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance by calling (630) 637-7469.
In 1960, King spoke to an audience of North Central students when he visited campus. Since then, the College honors and remembers his visit each year with a keynote presentation, musical tributes, a prayer breakfast and selected activities.
At the event, Anderson’s Bookshops will have copies of Gay’s book, “Difficult Women” due for release Jan. 3, available for purchase and signing by the author at the end of her talk.
This MLK event is partially sponsored by Nicor Gas, the College’s offices of Multicultural Affairs and Ministry and Service, Cultural Events, Student Governing Association and Residence Life. For more information contact the Office of Multicultural Affairs at (630) 637-5156.
—Stephanie Passialis ’17 for North Central College
Submitted by Candace Purdom for Anderson’s Bookshop
