Ep. 292 Writing Toward Beauty with Jesmyn Ward
The Stacks
Traci Thomas
4.9 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 8 November 2023
⏱️ 70 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Award-winning author Jesmyn Ward joins The Stacks to discuss her latest novel Let Us Descend. She reveals how the book came to her, and how audience plays into her writing process. We also learn why Jesmyn changed her normal writing process for this book, how she writes to the center of emotions in her fiction, and how her level of success impacts her ability to write.
The Stacks Book Club selection for November is Severance by Ling Ma. We will discuss the book on November 29th with Mitchell S. Jackson.
You can find everything we discuss on today's show on The Stacks' website:
https://thestackspodcast.com/2023/11/08/ep-292-jesmyn-ward
Connect with Jesmyn: Instagram | Twitter
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Stacks, a podcast about books and the people who read them. I'm your host Tracy Thomas and joining us today on the stacks is the legendary author, Jesmin Ward. |
| 0:19.0 | We have covered some of Jesmin's past work on this very show but today we get to discuss with |
| 0:25.1 | Jesmin her brand new novel Let Us Desend which is also an Oprah Winfrey book club |
| 0:30.4 | pick. The book is a reimagining of American slavery told through the story of one girl. |
| 0:35.8 | It's a beautifully written heartbreaking magical realism tale of grief and survival. |
| 0:41.5 | Jesmin is a two-time National Book Award winner, |
| 0:44.2 | as well as a MacArthur fellow, |
| 0:45.6 | and the youngest winner of the Library of Congress |
| 0:48.2 | Prize for Fiction. |
| 0:49.8 | We talk today about how this story came to her, |
| 0:52.8 | how writing let us descend differed |
| 0:54.7 | from her previous projects, |
| 0:56.2 | and how she writes through the pressure |
| 0:58.2 | of past recognition and accolades. |
| 1:00.7 | There are no spoilers on today's episode. |
| 1:03.0 | Remember, our November book club pick is Severance by Ling Ma. |
| 1:07.0 | We will discuss that book on Wednesday, November 29th, with Mitchell Jackson. |
| 1:11.0 | Quick reminder, everything we talk about on each episode of the stacks can be found in the link in the |
| 1:15.6 | show notes. |
| 1:16.6 | And if you haven't yet, please take a moment to leave the stacks a reading and a review on |
| 1:21.2 | Apple Podcast. |
| 1:22.3 | We are trying to get to 2,000 reviews. We're so close, |
... |
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