Jesmyn Ward Quotes About Struggle
-
My understanding of voodoo is that it was important to the people who practiced it because it helped them survive. There are practical ways it enabled survival. It used herbal medicine to heal, to aid in childbirth. It was a spiritual system. It made room for hope and for magic and for possibility. For people who struggle and fight to survive and who fight to live, those are really important things.
→ -
I came to the realization that I had failed in some respects because I had been more of a benevolent narrator than the world I saw reflected around me, and in the lives of the people in my community, and in my family. There was no benevolent God sparing us pain and loss and grief and struggle. If I was going to continue to write about the place where I am from, and the kind of people who live in my community and who are in my family, I owed it to them to be honest with what our lives are like.
→ -
I see so many talented writers of color struggling to get their work out to an audience. I know that's the case for all writers - everyone's struggling for attention - but I do think that for writers of color it's harder, and for women it's harder, and for regional writers it's harder, too.
→
Related Authors
-
Hillary Jordan Novelist -
Julie Otsuka Author -
Nikky Finney Poet -
Edwidge Danticat Author -
Helen Oyeyemi Novelist -
Roxane Gay Writer -
Stephen Greenblatt Literary critic -
Karen Russell Novelist -
Jaimy Gordon Writer -
Katherine Boo Journalist -
Thanhha Lai Writer -
Molly Antopol Fiction writer -
Kevin Brockmeier Writer -
Khalil Gibran Muhammad Professor -
Tayari Jones Author -
Louise Erdrich Writer -
Kiese Laymon Writer -
Tea Obreht Novelist -
Charles M. Blow Journalist -
Alice McDermott Writer