Getting the South Right: an Interview with Jesmyn Ward
by Nico Berry
From the Archives: Nico Berry talks to Jesmyn Ward in 2009 about her debut novel, Where the Line Bleeds.
Nico Berry lives in San Francisco. He spends a good percentage of his days making up stories and remixing nursery rhymes with his daughter. He has been working as a freelance graphic designer and visual artist since he left his position as Art Director of Thrasher skateboard magazine eight years ago. He’s published interviews with a wide range of wordsmiths—from lyricists like Snoop Dogg and De La Soul, to graffiti writers in Thailand. He’s currently working on writing and illustrating a series of children’s books.
From the Archives: Nico Berry talks to Jesmyn Ward in 2009 about her debut novel, Where the Line Bleeds.
Jesmyn Ward grew up in DeLisle, Mississippi. Her first novel, Where the Line Bleeds (Agate, Nov. 2008), is about twin brothers navigating life after high school in a small Gulf Coast town. Where the Line Bleeds is an Essence Book Club Selection, a 2009 Honor Award recipient from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association, and a nominee for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award. Jesmyn Ward’s essays and fiction have been published in Oxford American, A Public Space, and Bomb magazines. She holds an MFA from the University of Michigan, and she is currently entering her second year as a Stegner Fellow at Stanford.
Nico Berry spoke to the author by phone as she soaked up the summer heat back home in DeLisle, Mississippi.
