[applause] >> jesmyn ward. as a young girl growing up in the rural area of the gulf coast mississippi, jesmyn ward was haunted by the presence of the mississippi state penitentiary which was also known infamously as parchment farm. as she told npr's fresh air, i remember being seven, 8-years-old and having nightmares about my uncles and fathers being arrested and sent to prison. as the guardian points out in its review, the division between ththe cursor go into civilian le is porous in this world. along with the incarceration of the family struggles with entrenched racism, drug addiction and poverty yet the family and doris. supported by the lan their landd their spiritual inheritance is explained in an interview she studied in order to incorporate the spiritual world as an important aspect of her character's legacy allowing them and i quote not to transcend their reality but to access a different understanding of the reality. they also found in the natural world in the rendering of the southern landscapes has