J)-winner of the PEN American Literary Jean Stein Award. His new collection of essays, Inciting Joy, was released in October 2022. An associate professor of poetry at Indiana University, he is the author of four books of poetry, including Against Which (2006) Bringing the Shovel Down (2011) Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude (2015), winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and finalist for the National Book Award and Be Holding (2020)-a book-length poem about basketball legend Julius Erving (aka Dr. Gay will present in person at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center on March 25 as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book. It will be discussed at the Crozet Library Monday Night Book Group on Monday, March 6, at 7 p.m. This book is the Jefferson Madison Regional Library (JMRL)’s Same Page Community Read selection for 2023.

The result of this venture is the bestselling The Book of Delights (2019), a collection of 102 “essayettes” about the many things that delight him- including hummingbirds, paw paw groves, laundromats, roller skates, self-forgiveness, Botan rice candy, nicknames, sidewalk naps, and dreams-especially waking up from bad ones.

The rules he set were that he would write daily for one year about something that delighted him, he would begin and end on his birthday (August 1), the entries would be drafted quickly, and they would be written by hand. But poet Ross Gay came up with a new twist on this idea when he decided to keep a Delight Journal. You’ve probably heard of-or even kept-a Gratitude Journal.

Ross gay's the book of delights