Acclaimed Poet Ross Gay Shares New Essay Collection – “Inciting Joy”

St. Louis County Library’s Favorite Author Series presents acclaimed poet Ross Gay for a discussion of his new essay collection “Inciting Joy.”

The event will take place on Monday, November 7 at 7:00 p.m. at the Ethical Society of St. Louis, 9001 Clayton Road, St. Louis MO 63117.

The program is presented in partnership with the St. Louis Poetry Center.

The program is free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase at the event from Left Bank Books.

From the New York Times bestselling author of “The Book of Delights,” Ross Gay presents an intimate and electrifying collection of essays.

In these gorgeously written and timely pieces, prize-winning poet and author Ross Gay considers the joy we incite when we care for each other, especially during life’s inevitable hardships. Throughout “Inciting Joy,” he explores how we can practice recognizing that connection, and also, crucially, how we expand it.

In “We Kin” he thinks about the garden (especially around August, when the zucchini and tomatoes come on) as a laboratory of mutual aid; in “Share Your Bucket” he explores skate boarding’s reclamation of public space; he considers the costs of masculinity in “Grief Suite”; and in “Through My Tears I Saw,” he recognizes what was healed in caring for his father as he was dying.

In an era when divisive voices take up so much air space, “Inciting Joy” offers a vital alternative: What might be possible if we turn our attention to what brings us together, to what we love? Full of energy, curiosity, and compassion, “Inciting Joy” is essential reading from one of our most brilliant writers.

Ross Gay is the New York Times bestselling author of “The Book of Delights: Essays” and four books of poetry. His “Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude” won the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Award; and “Be Holding” won the 2021 PEN America Jean Stein Book Award. He is a founding board member of the Bloomington Community Orchard, a non-profit, free-fruit-for-all food justice and joy project. Gay has received fellowships from Cave Canem, the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, and the Guggenheim Foundation.

Program sites are accessible. With at least two weeks' notice, accommodations will be made for persons with disabilities. Call 314-994-3300 or contact us.