"A strikingly fresh cultural critic."--Ron Charles, Washington Post"Arresting and sensitive. . . . An author who filters every observation through her deep sense of the world as fractured, beautiful, and complex."--Slate"[A] touching and crucial essay collection. . . . If you're interested in critical thinking about culture, this book is a must."--Newsweek"Roxane Gay is the brilliant girl-next-door: your best friend and your sharpest critic. . . . She is by turns provocative, chilling, hilarious; she is also required reading."--People"Roxane Gay applies her discerning eye to everything from Paula Deen to The Bachelor."--Marie Claire"Feisty, whip-smart essays on gender, sexuality, and race."--Entertainment Weekly"One of our sharpest new culture critics plants her flag in topics ranging from trigger warnings to Orange is the New Black in this timely collection of essays."--O, the Oprah Magazine, 10 Titles to Pick Up Now"A trenchant collection. . . . Whatever her topic, Gay's provocative essays stand out for their bravery, wit, and emotional honesty."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Toss Roxane Gay's collection of witty, thoughtful essays, Bad Feminist into your tote bag. With musings on everything from Sweet Valley High to the color pink, Gay explores the idea of being a feminist, even when you're full of contradictions."--Self, "Smart beach-read alert""Gay's essays are consistently smart and provocative. . . . Her essay collection will give you dinner-party conversation through September."--Jennifer Weiner's 10 best beach reads, USA Today

'Pink is my favourite colour. I used to say my favourite colour was black to be cool, but it is pink - all shades of pink. If I have an accessory, it is probably pink. I read Vogue, and I'm not doing it ironically, though it might seem that way. I once live-tweeted the September issue.'

In these funny and insightful essays, Roxane Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman (Sweet Valley High) of colour (The Help) while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years (Girls, Django in Chains) and commenting on the state of feminism today (abortion, Chris Brown).

The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture. Bad Feminist is a sharp, funny and sincere look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better.

One of our most indispensable writers . . . on everything that matters

Roxane Gay is the author of the essay collection Bad Feminist, which was a New York Times bestseller; the novel An Untamed State, a finalist for the Dayton Peace Prize; and the short story collections Difficult Women and Ayiti. A contributing opinion writer to the New York Times, she has also written for Time, McSweeney's, the Virginia Quarterly Review, the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, The Rumpus, Bookforum, and Salon. Her fiction has also been selected for The Best American Short Stories 2012, The Best American Mystery Stories 2014, and other anthologies. She is the author of World of Wakanda for Marvel. She lives in Lafayette, Indiana, and sometimes Los Angeles.