Ross Gay was born August 1, 1974 to a Black father and white mother in Youngstown, Ohio, but he grew up in Levittown, Pennsylvania.
Education
He received his Bachelor of Arts from Lafayette College, his Master of Fine Arts in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College, and his Doctor of Philosophy in American Literature from Temple University, and is a founding editor, with Karissa Chen and Patrick Rosal, of the online sports magazine Some Call it Ballin", in addition to being an editor with the chapbook presses Q Avenue and Ledge Mule Press.
Career
Ross Gay is an American poet and professor He has taught poetry, art and literature at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania and Montclair State University in New Jersey. He now teaches at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and the low-residency Master of Fine Arts in poetry program at Drew University.
His poems have appeared in literary journals and magazines including American Poetry Review, Harvard Review, Columbia: A Journal of Poetry and Art, Margie: The American Journal of Poetry and Atlanta Review, and in anthologies including From the Fishouse (Persea Books, 2009).
His honors include being a Cave Canem hop fellow and a Bread Loaf Writers Conference Tuition Scholar, and he received a grant from the Pennsylvania Council of the Arts. 2015 National Book Award for Poetry, finalst for Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude.
Membership
He is a founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a non-profit, free-fruit-for-all food justice and joy project