National Book Award Winner Jesmyn Ward stressed the importance of dialogue both locally and nationally during two Arlington Reads 2015 appearances April 8. 

Speaking first to students at Marymount University, Ward said “hope” was the key to confronting each new day despite the weight of the latest tragic headlines stemming from the issues of race and poverty she has written so much about.

The theme of Arlington Reads 2015 is “#BlackLivesMatter: Two Remarkable Writers on Being Black in America.”

Addressing an evening standing-room only crowd at Central Library, Ward said she had at one point considered abandoning her writing for a career in nursing but found that the process of sharing her thoughts and stories helped her as much as it reached others.

At Ms. Ward’s request, her presentations were not recorded but readers are encouraged to watch Ward’s 2013 PBS NewsHour interview that led to her “Men We Reaped” being chosen for Arlington Reads.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urNJGdtc1Sg[/youtube]

Arlington Reads 2015 presents featured fiction author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie on May 7 at Central Library.