Author Roxane Gay in Coleman hall on the campus of Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois on January 31, 2014. (Photo by Jay Grabiec)
CAMARILLO — “The story of my body is not a story of triumph,” wrote New York Times bestselling author Roxane Gay in her memoir, “Hunger.”
“This is not a weight loss memoir. There will be no picture of a thin version of me, my slender body emblazoned across the book’s cover, with me standing on one leg of my former, fatter self’s jeans.”
Gay goes on to write that hers is not a success story, but simply a true story. A story that needed to be told.
Gay will share her story Thursday, Oct. 18 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI)’s Grand Salon, for the CSUCI Campus Reading Celebration. CSUCI students, faculty and staff can attend for free and the public is welcome for $10. Non-CSUCI students are $5.
Every year, CSUCI holds a Campus Reading Celebration in which the campus and community are invited to read a book selected by a campus committee after fielding votes and suggestions from the campus community. Then, the author is invited to the campus to speak and sign copies of the book.
Professor of English Joan Peters, Ph.D., co-chair of the Campus Reading Celebration, believes “Hunger” has a powerful message that will resonate with many types of readers.
“This is a book about a woman who is obese because she was gang-raped when she was 12,” Peters said. “For her, putting on weight was putting on armor. She is able to talk about weight and its impact on one human being, even though you graduate and get a Ph.D. and become a famous columnist, it’s still inside you.”
Gay is the author of The New York Times best-selling essay collection “Bad Feminist,” as well as the short story collection “Ayiti,” the novel “An Untamed State,” the short story collection “Difficult Women,” and her latest book, “Hunger,” published in 2016 by HarperCollins.
In her New York Times column, her books and essays, Gay, also an associate professor of English at Purdue University in Indiana, tangles with issues of identity, race, sexual violence, women’s issues and body image, to name a few, but the thrust of “Hunger” is one woman’s experience as an obese woman, how she was treated by society, and how she felt about herself.
“I just thought it was so important a topic because as a nation, we are body-obsessed,” said Assistant Professor of English Kim Vose, who also co-chairs the event. “The fat shaming is the last horizon of what people think is acceptable to do.”
Vose also believes this is a relevant topic for college students, many of whom are in their 20s.
“So far it seems to have resonated strongly with our students,” Vose said. “The younger you are, the more susceptible you are to a negative body image. Many of our students have had similar experiences to Roxane Gay’s.”
In her book, Gay explores how early trauma, such as sexual violence, can be linked to weight gain. The relationship between trauma and weight is important to discuss, Peters said.
“We have a lot of students who struggle with weight,” Peters said. “I see them in class and I read what they write. This is a moment to talk about it. To talk about how society views individuals who are out of the norm.”
The evening will begin with Gay’s talk, followed by a question and answer session and a book-signing event.
Peters and Vose believe there is a kind of magic to a campus and a community reading the same book at the same time, and discussing it together.
“I think the whole idea of the Campus Reading Celebration from the very beginning was to bring us all together in this divisive and polarized world,” Peters said. “To bring us together to talk in the most human way about subjects that are tremendously important in the world we live in.”
Reservations are required. To RSVP visit: https://commerce.cashnet.com/crc.
About California State University Channel Islands: CSU Channels Islands is reimagining higher education for a new generation and era. We are an innovative higher education institution that enables students to succeed and thrive, serves as an engine for social and economic vitality and provides the intellectual resources necessary for a thriving democracy. With more than 7,000 students, 1,200 employees and 16,000 alumni, CSUCI is designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is committed to serving students of all backgrounds from the region and beyond. Our strong academic programs focus on business, sciences, liberal studies, teaching credentials, and innovative master’s degrees. Connect with and learn more by visiting CSUCI’s Social Media.