Ross Gay was born August 1, 1974 in Youngstown, Ohio and grew up outside of Philadelphia. His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Harvard Review, and Atlanta Review, among other journals. He is a Cave Canem fellow and has been a Bread Loaf Tuition Scholar. In addition to holding a Ph.D in American Literature from Temple University, he is a basketball coach, an occasional demolition man and a painter. Ross has taught poetry, art and literature at Lafayette College in Easton, PA and Montclair State University in New Jersey.