Press Play with Madeleine Brand
National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward on how racism haunts the present
Author Jesmyn Ward is regularly called a modern William Faulkner. She sets her novels in small-town Mississippi, and uses that setting to explore how America’s racist past continues to burden its present. Her new novel, “Sing, Unburied, Sing,” is on the shortlist for this year’s National Book Award.
By Madeleine Brand • • 1 min readAuthor Jesmyn Ward is regularly called a modern William Faulkner. She sets her novels in small-town Mississippi, and uses that setting to explore how America’s racist past continues to burden its present. Her new novel, “Sing, Unburied, Sing,” is on the shortlist for this year’s National Book Award. It’s written primarily from the perspective of a mother and her biracial teenage son, who are haunted by ghosts from the family’s past.
Author Jesmyn Ward. Photo by Beowulf Sheehan.
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The full episode
3 of 4On encountering James Toback: 'I wanted to crawl into a hole and die'- 0:00Film director James Toback at center of sexual harassment scandal
- 13:10Does the Supreme Court need fact checkers?
- 22:49National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward on how racism haunts the presentYou’re reading this
- 38:00Will the Dodgers win the World Series?