Jesmyn Ward, the 2011 National Book Award winner for Fiction, provides us with an excellently useful interview on her award- winning book “Salvage the Bones”. Her responses to our questions throw some valuable light on the backdrop of her story, her characters, her forthcoming book and many things more.

——

At first heartiest congratulations from Printsasia.com to you for your winning the National Book Award for Fiction 2011. How would you like to describe your feelings on that award- winning evening?

Thank you! Winning the National Book Award is a great honor. That list of former and current finalists and winners is an illustrious one, and I’m simply happy to be included in their presence.

Tell us something about your writing journey and your inspirations behind your writing.

I loved reading as a child, but I never thought I had the talent necessary to write. Even though I thought so negatively, I still harbored a desire to write. When I grew older and was more aware of inequality and the beauty and savagery of the lives of the people in my community, I wrote more. But I didn’t commit to writing seriously until my brother died (he was hit by a drunk driver), and then the reality of death made me foolish and brave enough to not care what others thought and to at least try to be a writer.

How did you come up with the idea of writing a novel against the backdrop of Hurricane Katrina and its devastations?

I lived through Hurricane Katrina with my family. After I survived the storm and then lived through the despair that dogged most survivors, I think, I began to think about writing about it. It took me 3 years to recognize that hope accompanies survivors and understanding that made me think I could write again, and write about Hurricane Katrina.

What do you think is the most compelling factor of your book “Salvage the Bones” that makes it a must- read for all?

I think the characters are compelling. I think they make the book a must-read. They are strange and wonderful and flawed and deeply human, and all this makes them real. The reader understands some of my love for the characters when they read the book, and I hope they carry some of the characters with them when they are done.

How do you create such a wonderful piece of fiction literature out of some of the harshest realities of life?

I’ve read this in writing craft manuals, and it’s true: writers are attempting to find the story in everything. We want to prescribe meaning to everything we experience and see others experience. All the tragedies I witnessed in my life and in those of others around me still seemed to be anchored in beauty: there seemed to be some meaning there. When I create fiction, I’m trying to communicate that sense of wonder, that sense of meaning I see in the harshest realities.

How far do you personally relate to the characters of the story?

I relate to them because I understand who they are and where they come from, but in some ways, I don’t relate to them. That’s why they’re able to surprise me when I’m writing, why they do things I don’t expect. They’re their own people, and they frustrate me, but I still love them (in this way, they remind me of family members).

Do you agree that imperfect world is a must requirement to give us the identity of real survivors?

Well, if the world were perfect, we’d have nothing to survive, right? There’s value in surviving, in fighting to live. Doing so can give our lives meaning as we attempt to find those things that make surviving worth it, as we navigate by hope. But it sure can be tiring.

Is “Water” an important symbol in your novel Salvage the Bones as cleanser as well as destructor?

It is a cleanser and a destructor. It also hides secrets, and then later reveals them. It kills, and it births. It has lots of functions in the novel.

What are you planning to write next and when is your next book expected to hit the bookstores? Any message for your readers?

My next book should be in bookstores next fall: it’s a memoir about a specific time in my life, from 2000-2004, when five young black men from my community died. The first was my brother in the year 2000; he was hit by a drunk driver. The book is about them: it asks why an epidemic like that would happen in a small, rural, Southern town, and then uses my life and the lives of those around me to provide context for that answer.

I hope my readers follow me along that journey, face those hard truths with me, and wrestle with the most painful questions and answers as I do. May we reach some difficult conclusions together.

Tags: Jesmyn Ward Interview, National Book Award Winner Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 8th, 2011 at 10:24 am and is filed under Author Interview. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.