Roxane Gay, author of the renowned feminist collection of essays “Bad Feminist” will be speaking at Iowa State on Thursday at 8 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.

“Bad Feminist” is a collection of essays that explore being a feminist while participating in or loving things that could be seen as against feminist ideology.

“Bad Feminist is considered the quintessential exploration of modern feminism,” according to Iowa State’s event page.

Gay is the first black woman to write for Marvel Comics with “Black Panther: World of Wakanda.”

Gay has published many other books including “Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body,” released last year in which Gay reflects on her struggles with weight and identity, “Difficult Women” and “An Untamed State.”

In 2006, Gay co-founded PANK Magazine “a literary magazine fostering access to emerging and innovative poetry and prose,” according to PANK’s website.

Gay received a master’s in English with emphasis in creative writing from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and a PhD in rhetoric and technical communication from Michigan Technological University.

Gay is currently a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and an associate professor of English at Purdue University.

Gay will also be participating in “Telling Necessary Stories: Q and A on the Craft of Writing” on Thursday from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Pioneer Room of the Memorial Union in which students will have to opportunity to ask questions and listen to Gay discuss her writing process.

Gay’s lecture is co-sponsored by the Ames Public Library Friends Foundation, Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics, Division of Student Affairs, MFA Program in Creative Writing and Environment, Margaret Sloss Women’s Center, National Affairs, Pearl Hogrefe Fund, University Library, Women’s and Gender Studies program, and Committee on Lectures.

“I embrace the label of bad feminist because I am human. I am messy. I’m not trying to be an example. I am not trying to be perfect. I am not trying to say I have all the answers. I am not trying to say I’m right. I am just trying—trying to support what I believe in, trying to do some good in this world, trying to make some noise with my writing while also being myself,” said Gay in “Bad Feminist.”