“And relatively speaking, she was very lucky. “I wrote the novel about eight years ago and it's been about seven years since her kidnapping and she was held for two days," Gay told WLRN. In a classic case of life imitating art, Gay's own aunt was kidnapped shortly after she wrote the novel. The book explores ideas surrounding the “strong Black woman,” trope, complex immigrant family dynamics, romance and the unresolved complexities undergirding forgiveness and betrayal. Her stubborn, overly-principled father refused to budge. Mireille lives in Miami but is visiting family in Port-Au-Prince when she’s kidnapped for a million dollar ransom. The novel follows Mireille Duval Jameson, the daughter of a wealthy construction businessman from Haiti. Her debut novel “An Untamed State,” published six years ago, is a clear window into sexual violence, trauma, and the lack of body autonomy. She says her 2014 "Bad Feminist" book serves as a “prescient” reminder that issues surrounding the female body in spaces beyond the workplace continue today. The acclaimed Haitian-American author, cultural critic, and former professor, whose family has lived in South Florida for the past 21 years, has morphed into a sought-after thought leader on a range of hot-button topics, including Black womanhood, LGBTQ+ rights, fatphobia, racial inequality, and the #MeToo movement. Local journalists are working hard to keep you informed on the latest developments across South Florida.
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There isn’t a social or pop-cultural debate she can’t stamp her opinion on. Gay spends just as much time self-reflecting on her own work, its impact on society and the silver linings of the pandemic. Two white boards hang in her home office she’s always working, lurking for the next project, the next opportunity to paste a societal observation into white space. Roxane Gay’s voice reverberates far beyond her fiction, non-fiction, and collections of essays.