Jesmyn Ward's 'Salvage' wins National Book Award

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``I wanted to write about the experiences of the poor and the black and the rural people of the South,'' said Ward. Photo Jesmyn Ward
``I wanted to write about the experiences of the poor and the black and the rural people of the South,'' said Ward. Photo Jesmyn Ward

By HILLEL ITALIE

NEW YORK - Jesmyn Ward's ``Salvage the Bones,'' a bleak but determined novel about a community devastated by Hurricane Katrina, has won the National Book Award for fiction.

Ward's acceptance, the culmination of a night of emotional speeches and tributes to those who had been silenced, noted that the death of her younger brother had inspired her to become a writer. She realized that life was a ``feeble, unpredictable thing,'' but that books were a testament of strength before a punishing world.

``I wanted to write about the experiences of the poor and the black and the rural people of the South,'' said Ward, whose brother was hit by a drunk driver the year she graduated from college. Earlier in the week, she told The Associated Press that writing was a way to ``ease the looking fact of death.'' APAssociated Press text, photo and/or graphic material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. Neither these AP Materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing.

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