Roxane Gay Is Teaching A MasterClass On Writing For Social Change

Roxane Gay, the bestselling author of nonfiction books including essay collection Bad Feminist and Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body as well as several novels, is now teaching the class Writing for Social Change for online platform MasterClass. Comprised of 20 video lessons, the class explores “how to own your identity, hone your voice, write about trauma with care and courage, and navigate the publishing industry. Learn how to document and narrate the world as you see it—and then demand change.” Lessons include Writing as a Black Feminist, Challenging Ideas and Changing Minds, Consuming and Criticizing Culture, Roxane’s Writing Process, Self-Editing: Re-Visioning Your Work, and Finding an Agent.

The class is available for a $180 annual membership, which also grants access to all of MasterClass’s 100+ offerings in a range of categories including science and tech, business, wellness, design and style, arts and entertainment, music, and sports and gaming, among others.

In a statement, Gay, a contributing opinion writer at The New York Times
NYT
, said, “When writing finds you, it opens up a whole new world of possibility. In my MasterClass, I show you how to make a difference in the world through writing—because once you start writing, you have freedom and can start to see the world in a completely different way.” On Instagram, Gay wrote of her MasterClass, “Writing is a way of contributing to the political climate and saying something meaningful while being yourself. You don’t need to be brave when you’re writing; you need to acknowledge that you’re terrified and do it anyway.”

David Rogier, founder and CEO of MasterClass, discussed in the statement why the platform had chosen Gay to teach on this topic. “Roxane drives change with every word she writes. In her MasterClass, she shows members how to own their identity, write better, think deeper and hone their voices to make real change in the world.”

Gay uses her own books as cases studies in the MasterClass lessons, analyzing her work as a cultural critic in Bad Feminist and breaking down writing about trauma in Hunger, a subject she also explores in her Scribd original essay Writing Into the Wound: Understanding trauma, truth, and language, released February 11.

According to MasterClass, for those new to writing, “Gay will provide candid and accessible insight into determining the right questions to ask themselves before putting pen to paper,” while those with more writing experience “will learn how to address purpose, voice and writer’s block, as well as navigate the business of writing and engaging with their audience on social media.” Additionally, “Through emotional readings of her deeply personal work and her raw transparency when speaking to her own experiences as a writer, Gay will have members leaving the class ready to tackle any subject in writing and use their work to challenge and persuade readers.”

In one of the class videos, Gay says that while she’d never run for office as a politician, “Writing allows me to make clear my political affiliations and what I believe and what I stand for and to try and get other people on board with…progressive ideas.” Of writing for social change, Gay says in the video, “It’s not that you have to know what kind of change you want to create; it’s that you have to have a sense of purpose. You have to have something to say…The most important thing to remember is that artistry cannot be subsumed by writing for change and political purpose. It has to still be great writing.”

MasterClass launched in 2015 and describes the company as “the streaming platform where anyone can learn from the world’s best.” Other MasterClass writing teachers include Margaret Atwood, Judy Blume, Dan Brown, James Patterson, Issa Rae, David Sedaris, and R.L. Stine, among others.