Roxane Gay, a New York Times bestselling author and noted scholar, is CCNY's 2025 Langston Hughes Medalist.
, the New York Times bestselling author and noted scholar, is t九色视频鈥檚 2025 Langston Hughes Medal recipient. She鈥檒l receive the Medal at CCNY's 46th annual Langston Hughes Festival, Feb. 13-14. This year鈥檚 event commemorates the centenary of the Harlem Renaissance, that intellectual and cultural revival of African-American literature, music, art, theater and scholarship of which Langston Hughes was a central figure.
The medal is awarded to highly distinguished writers from throughout the African American diaspora. It recognizes honorees for their impressive works of poetry, fiction, drama, autobiography and critical essays that help to celebrate the memory and tradition of Langston Hughes. Past award winners include:
鈥 James Baldwin;
鈥 Gwendolyn Brooks;
鈥 Toni Morrison;
鈥 August Wilson;
鈥 Maya Angelou;
鈥 Octavia Butler;
鈥 Edwidge Danticat;
鈥 Zadie Smith;
鈥 Michael Eric Dyson;
鈥 Rita Dove;
鈥 Jamaica Kincaid;
鈥 Lynn Nottage; and
鈥 Carlson Whitehead.
A prolific writer, Gay has authored and edited numerous books. The list includes her 2014 debut , the New York Times bestsellers and ; the nationally bestselling , and the for Marvel. .
Gay鈥檚 writing appears also in 2014, 2012, and 2012. Among the many literary magazines frequently publishing her work are: A Public Space, McSweeney鈥檚, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, and Virginia Quarterly Review. .
In 2020, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first LGBTQ Pride parade, Queerty -- the online news and entertainment publication that covers LGBTQ-related topics, including news and politics -- named Gay among the 50 heroes "leading the nation toward equality, acceptance, and dignity for all people." She was also included in the 2022 Fast Company Queer 50 list.
Gay is a graduate of Norwich University (B.A.), the University of Nebraska鈥揕incoln (M.A.) and Michigan Technological University (Ph.D.).
The Langston Hughes Festival commences Thursday, Feb. 13, with a . The will include a reading by Gay, and a conversation between her and author Edwidge Danticat, the 2011 Langston Hughes medalist.
Concluding the program on Feb. 14, Valentine鈥檚 Day, will be the first .
鈥淭he 2025 Langston Hughes Festival Theme is Black Love, and we will celebrate Black Love in all its iterations,鈥 said Jervette R. Ward, Festival Director and Chair of CCNY鈥檚 Black Studies Department. 鈥淚n addition, in honor of both Gay and Danticat, this special two-day Harlem Renaissance Centennial will include a celebration of Haitian music and food.鈥
Both Gay and Danticat are of Haitian heritage.
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