(Photo by Ivo Kamps)
Last night a room full of readers gathered to hear Jesmyn Ward read from and talk about her powerful new memoir, Men We Reaped, in the launch event for the book. Ms. Ward wrote much of the book while in Oxford as the John and Renee Visiting Writer at the University of Mississippi in 2010 - 2011, just before she won the National Book Award for her novel, Salvage the Bones.
In a New York Times review of Men We Reaped yesterday, Dwight Garner wrote that "So much happens in this relatively short book, there are so many shrewd details...." Garner refers to Ms. Ward's writing as "elegiac" and "rangy," saying that the book "reaffirms Ms. Ward's substantial talent."
A C-Span Book TV crew filmed the event and we very much encourage you to watch this strong and memorable event for a book that is both beautiful and important. (Details of when it will be aired are not presently known). We wish to thank Ms. Ward's publisher, Bloomsbury, for sponsoring her appearance here, and her fine editor, Kathy Belden, for representing them here so graciously. RH