When SVA gathers its degree candidates at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, May 22 for the College’s first in-person commencement ceremony in three years, renowned writer Roxane Gay will offer some words of wisdom to the class of 2022.

Gay’s writing appears in numerous publications including McSweeney’s, Oxford American, American Short Fiction and Virginia Quarterly Review, and 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 the New York Times bestselling Hunger. She is also the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel, in addition to several forthcoming books and television and film projects. She has a newsletter, The Audacity, and a podcast, The Roxane Gay Agenda.

In addition to being a bestselling author and revered cultural commentator, as well as a lover and collector of visual art, Roxane Gay has a particularly special connection to SVA: her wife, MPS Branding chair Debbie Millman. The two have been married since 2020. “I’m so proud of what she does at the School of Visual Arts,” says Gay. “And that I get to participate in commencement is just really fun and exciting.”

Gay recently spoke with us about her own approach to teaching college students, the ways visual art has influenced her writing, the writers who are inspiring her currently and the thing no one tells you about when preparing for life as an artist.

How do you think graduating students can best equip themselves to face the beginning of their careers now?

At this point, graduates should be willing to take risks. The world is in flux. And one thing we’ve learned is that we have to be prepared to adapt with drastic change. And so now, especially for the younger graduates, but really for anyone who’s just starting out, take the chances. You can be so-called responsible and play by the rules later. And frankly, I don’t think anyone should ever do that, but take risks, do something unexpected, learn things that are outside of your comfort zone. Take a job with a nonprofit and do some good in the world. This is a great time where anything is possible. And of course, there’s reality, bills have to be paid, and very few people have a safety net. So you have to find ways to take risks in the ways your life will allow.

Are you still teaching? If so, what is your approach in the classroom?

I’m a president’s professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles. This is my first semester and so far I’ve been remote. We’re doing about half of my classes online and half in person, and I have a really good group of students this semester. I don’t mind teaching online, I’ve done it before. My approach with young people is to meet them where they’re at and to evaluate them, especially as writers, in terms of who they are and who I think they can grow into as a writer, rather than some unrealistic and impersonal ideal that is supposed to be good writing. I approach students with the belief that they’re great writers already, and they’re great thinkers and we’re just here to help them develop those skills and become better writers and better thinkers.

Looking back to when you were finishing school, what is some advice that you would have given yourself?

I think I would have told my younger self that I don’t need to have all the answers, that it’s okay that I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. And that time is for me to start to figure it out. A lot of times people think, ‘Oh I’ve graduated, I majored in something and so this is what I’m going to be for the rest of my life.’ But really you’re just beginning. College graduation is a beginning.

Do you ever revisit your early writing? If so, what do you think about it?

I don’t spend a lot of time revisiting my older writing, but when I come across it, or I need to reference something, I always think there’s not one thing I’ve ever written that I’m ashamed of. I’ve written flawed things, and that’s okay. I appreciate being able to see how I have grown as a writer, and that I continue to grow. And that, to me, is a gift because you don’t ever want to be stagnant creatively. When you’re not improving, there’s a problem. I have been in that place and I hate it and it feels very stultifying, so I appreciate being able to look at my previous work and recognize that I continue to grow as a writer.

You work in a variety of genres and modes—fiction, essay, memoir, comics, advice columns, newsletter, TV/film. Is there any one, in particular, you feel best suited to or most interested in right now? Any that have been especially challenging and/or rewarding?

I tend to be very omnivorous as a writer and a thinker, so all genres interest me. But I’m doing a lot of work right now in film and television and working on a TV show I’m very proud of. I’m actually working on two TV shows. And it’s really interesting because there is a learning curve and I’m definitely being challenged, and that’s a good thing, but it’s also, well, challenging. I don’t know that it’s different [in terms of reward], I just think it’s rewarding.

Who are some contemporary writers that inspire you and who you believe deserve a greater platform?

Oh of course you know there are so many very talented writers. There’s this great writer–and she’s so much more than a writer, she also does performance and provocation–her name is Amber J. Phillips. I just love everything she does, she has a very unique perspective and I am very appreciative of the ways that she’s in the world. Keah Brown is a wonderful writer, who’s already published one book and is working on several other projects, does a really great job working at the intersections of gender, sexuality, race and disability. And she also has just a fascinating voice.

What is your relationship with visual art? How has it influenced your writing?

Visual art is a big part of my life. I’m a collector, and I’ve always appreciated art and appreciated museums. I find it to be incredibly inspiring and very useful to my creative practice because I love seeing the risks artists are willing to take. It always just blows my mind like, ‘Wow, somebody thought to do that.’ If they would think to do that on a canvas or in sculpture or in some other medium, what can I do in my work that will evoke a similar reaction? For the past decade or so I’ve been a big fan of Thornton Dial. He was a folk artist from the south and did these amazing, what he called, assemblages. And I love collage. These days I’m really into the work of Calida Garcia Rawles, Sanford Biggers, Genevieve Gaignard, April Bey and Deborah Roberts. All of these artists have an interesting way of understanding and seeing the world, and engaging with Blackness in particular. It’s a wonderful time in the world of visual art.

What, to you, is something no one tells you about pursuing a life as an artist (in your case specifically, a writer)?

Nobody really tells you it’s okay to have a full-time job outside of artistic practice to support your art. A lot of times people think they need to be a starving artist and if you want to do that there’s nothing wrong with your choice, but you don’t have to. I have had a day job for most of my career, and that has given me the peace of mind to be able to create. When you can trust that your rent is going to be paid, or that you have health insurance—which I actually haven’t always had—it’s a lot easier to be creative and to give yourself the time and space to live in a world of imagination.

Is there a particular practice you abide by in being able to create/write?

I don’t have a formal routine, but one thing I do try to do (and to varying degrees of success) is, when I say I’m going to make time when I’m going to write, I try to honor that appointment with myself as much as I honor appointments with anyone else.

What are you looking forward to about speaking to the graduating class of 2022 at SVA?

It’s always exciting to talk to younger people and to people who are about to embark on another exciting journey, which is entering adulthood free from the constraints of being a student. Or going into graduate school. This is a really interesting moment in someone’s life. But I’m also truly honored to be speaking at my wife’s institution where she runs [the MPS Branding program] and has been doing such incredible work.

The 2022 SVA commencement exercises will be held on Sunday, May 22, at 1pm. The event will be live-streamed here, and on Facebook Live.

Features

In this Q&A with SVA's 2022 commencement speaker, the renowned writer reflects on her career and offers advice for those starting their own.