Join us tomorrow at 3:00 for a signing and reading with Jesmyn Ward.
Salvage the Bones, released in September, won the National Book Award in November. The signing will take place in the bookstore with a reading to follow in our Dot Com Events Building just across the parking lot from Banner Hall.
In case you missed it last month, enjoy our post with video of Jesmyn accepting the National Book Award.
To see Jesmyn Ward accept The National Book Award fast forward the video to 35:00. Don’t miss the part where she mentions Lemuria!
No doubt we are THRILLED that Jesmyn Ward, who grew up in Delisle, Mississippi, has won The National Book Award.
Jesmyn’s acceptance speech was eloquent. She explains how the death of her brother in her early twenties inspired her to start writing since “living through my grief for my brother meant that life was a feeble, unpredictable thing.” Jesmyn wanted to make sure she contributed to the world in a meaningful way. As time went on, the scope of her stories grew from stories about an imagined life for her brother to stories with a much broader message. Her hope was that “the culture that marginalized us for so long would see that our stories are as universal, our lives are as fraught, lovely and important as theirs.”
Salvage the Bones is a story about a poor black family, a father, three sons and a daughter, living on the coast of Mississippi. Hurricane Katrina’s arrival is imminent. Told from the perspective of fifteen-year-old Esch, the father attempts to make preparations for the storm with his children. The entire novel takes place in twelve days; the chapters take you day by day as the storm approaches, as Esch also learns she is to have a baby with the heartbreaking knowledge that her own mother died in childbirth. In this family of men, Esch has been reading Edith Hamilton’s Mythology, wondering if Medea had felt the way she did as she fell in love.
Everything about Jesmyn Ward is sincere and full of heart, from her novel Salvage the Bones to her hopes and dreams as a writer. I like what she wrote on her blog about Salvage the Bones the day it was released in September:
“My second novel, Salvage the Bones, is out today. The cover is beautiful, isn’t it? I always imagined that I’d do an interview for the novel, and a special picture would accompany it: me, hair wild, wearing a tank top and cut off jean shorts, barefoot, Mississippi green wild all around me, holding a leash while a dog, big and red, stands at my feet, mouth open, teeth white. Both of us, grinning. I’m getting generous reviews and given several good interviews, but this hasn’t happened yet. I’m still hoping.”
“This is the story of a girl growing up in a world of men, a tale about her brother and his pit bull, a novel about a family in the maw of Hurricane Katrina. This is about tragedy: this is about hope.” (http://jesmimi.blogspot.com)
Being somewhat near to the story of Jesmyn Ward and Salvage the Bones is one of the honors of being a bookseller. You never know what kind of journey a simple advanced reader copy will take you. As Jesmyn kindly noted in her acceptance speech, it is the booksellers who are on the front lines, who have the opportunity to create a readership. I am so pleased that this National Book Award will amplify the voices of booksellers and other readers who have experienced the quiet power of Salvage the Bones.
We drew a small, enthusiastic group for Jesmyn’s signing at Lemuria in September. I think we all could have listened to more than the first chapter. Jesmyn is a great reader. Even at that time, I was impressed with Jesmyn’s resolve to stick to the story she felt in her heart, in her determination to tell the story in her own way. We are fortunate to have Jesmyn at Lemuria again on Saturday, December 17th at 3:00 p.m. for a signing and reading.
Other Mississippians who have won The National Book Award include:
William Faulkner for A Fable in 1955
Walker Percy for The Moviegoer in 1962
Alice Walker for the hardback of The Color Purple & Eudora Welty for the paperback of Collected Stories in 1983
Ellen Gilchrist for Victory over Japan: A Book of Stories in 1984
and now Jesmyn Ward for Salvage the Bones in 2011.
Congratulations Jesmyn!
See previous blog with video of Jesmyn talking about being a finalist for The National Book Award.
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