Black Lives Matter and contemporary ghosts in the writing of Jesmyn Ward
When:
—
Venue:
Birkbeck 43 Gordon Square
No booking required
This session explores the work of the award-winning writer Jesmyn Ward. When #blacklivesmatter took off on Twitter in 2012, Ward was completing a memoir, Men We Reaped, about five young black men close to Ward including her brother and cousin who died in the space of four years. Ward's work has since been associated with the movement but also offers an important corrective to a campaign whose narrative has often been limited to 140 characters. This discussion explores Ward's literary engagements with Hurricane Katrina, racialized poverty, police brutality, mass incarceration, and the generally precarious status of black life in the 21st century US.
Part of Birkbeck Arts Week 2018 - see the full programme here.