Digitizing the Intersections: Roxane Gay's Online Performance of Authorial Identity

As she has moved into literary celebrity status, Roxane Gay has developed into a central figure in the continued fight for equality. Her authorial identity is firmly entrenched in the intersections of literary culture, race, gender, and technology, which allows Gay to criticize and navigate the historical restrictions placed on women and people of color. However, Gay’s emergence as a digital author places her within the battle between print and digital culture. This paper illuminates how Gay uses her digital presences to perform an intersectional authorial identity. Through this mediated performance, Gay destabilizes literary tradition, not only through her validation as a serious author of difference, but also as an avid proponent for digital authorship.