She is no stranger to providing a voice for those who may have obstacles to sharing theirs. From her prose collection “Ayiti” to her Twitter feed to her forthcoming book of essays, “Bad Feminist,” she does not shy away from calling attention to all forms of disenfranchisement. Gay is a writer attuned to inequality, a condition she explores in fiction and nonfiction. The story told in Roxane Gay’s debut novel, “An Untamed State,” is Mireille’s way of regaining her identity after her release. “I was no one.” These four words are the refrain of Mireille Duval Jameson, a young Haitian American attorney held captive for 13 days and brutally tortured by local criminals in Port-au-Prince.
