I wrote the first draft of my first novel at Michigan, and then I wrote the first draft of 'Salvage the Bones'… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
Physical books are still my favorite, but I own an e-book reader. They're convenient for travel. — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
I couldn't run from that desire to tell stories, that desire to tell stories about us, and about the people I loved. — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
If I could chat with anyone, it would be Claire Messud, because I think she could tell me how to get better… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
When I look back on my reading habits when I was really young, I was really drawn to stories about strong girls… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
Faulkner is a really important figure in southern literature. I wrestle with him and his legacy every time I sit down and… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
When I read 'Absalom, Absalom!,' I remember being really excited about it and telling all my friends they had to read it,… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
It took me a long time to write again because Katrina destroyed the home I loved, and that robbed me of hope. — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
I've been in so many writing workshops where someone hands in a story, and when the other writers in the workshop are… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
I think art, especially literature, has the particular power to immerse the viewer or reader into another world. This is especially powerful… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
Faulkner's characters, too, were uneducated. They were deprived, but they were allowed to have very rich inner lives. I want to advocate… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
I worked with several writers at the University of Michigan: Nicholas Delbanco, Peter Ho Davies, Eileen Pollack, Laura Kasischke, and Thomas Lynch,… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
I'm still a bit of a reading glutton, I think, because I browse, read a bit of the back copy, flip through… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
In the past, I travelled with 'The Hero and the Crown' by Robin McKinley: I suffer from a fear of flying, and… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
I've heard some writers say that they are obsessed with certain ideas and that they find themselves writing around the same obsession… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
The first writer that I think of immediately that I studied with at Michigan is Peter Ho Davies. He was really important… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
Writing 'Men We Reaped' broke me in different ways at different spots in the drafting process. The first draft was hard because… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
I have never written a novel that volleys back and forth between a couple of different first person perspectives. It's definitely a… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
When I was writing the memoir, every page was a battle with myself because I knew I had to tell the truth.… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
It's very hard to deal with true subject matter, especially when you're writing about such weighty issues. — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
Katrina silenced me for two years. I wrote a 12-page essay on my experience in Katrina, and that's it. I didn't write… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
I'm not saying I have to write a book that's ten times better than my counterparts, but I do think that I… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
I think that the first book that made me think that I could try to be a writer - or that made… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
I recently read a collection of stories called 'Boondock Kollage,' by Regina Bradley. The stories follow multiple characters through the South, through… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
I try to treat writing as part of my daily routine: I write for at least two hours, five days per week.… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share Image
I wanted to write about voodoo tradition that I feel has been very important to survival of black people here: people of the African… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share
I think that voodoo as a spiritual tradition has been demonized for so long in popular culture. I wanted to write against that and… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share
There's so much I love about home, but then there's a lot that I can acknowledge that I dislike about home. And acknowledging that… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share
“The dream of her was the glow of a spent fire on a cold night: warm and welcoming.” — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share
The first writer that I think of immediately that I studied with at Michigan is Peter Ho Davies. He was really important to me,… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share
I feel like so much of what happened in the Delta over the decades since slavery was abolished seems much closer in the Delta,… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share
“Vines catch my arms, my head; we tear through until we break out into the clearing before the fence, the field, the barn, the… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share
“Before all the little mean things she told me gathered and gathered and lodged like grit in a skinned knee.” — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share
People give the South a bad rap. It's often stereotyped as backwards and close-minded and dogmatic, and all of those things have been true.… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share
By the time I wrote my memoir, 'Men We Reaped,' I had been running from writing it for a long time. When the events… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share
When I was a teenager, I was the only black girl at a small, private Episcopal school, where my tuition was paid by the… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share
She was the murderous mother who cut us to the bone but left us alive, left us naked and bewildered as wrinkled newborn babies,… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share
I hope people who read my books feel empathy for us and really see us as complicated people. — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share
When I was writing my first novel, 'Where the Line Bleeds,' which had young black men as its main characters, I was very invested… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share
“Lot of folks was in there for stealing food because everybody was poor and starving, and even though White people couldn’t get your work… — Jesmyn Ward Copy Share
