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Updated · NPR · May 19Jesmyn Ward Releases New Essay Collection on Grief and Hope, Centered on 'Respair'
7 articles · Updated · NPR · May 19
- Jesmyn Ward’s new book, On Witness and Respair, gathers essays on grief, motherhood and survival.
- “Respair” — a term Ward learned during the pandemic — means the recovery of hope after despair and frames the collection’s central idea.
- Devastating personal loss drives the book’s exploration of how mourning and endurance can coexist with renewed hope.
What is 'respair,' the forgotten word Jesmyn Ward champions, and can it truly offer a literary life raft in desperate times? As she transforms devastating loss into art, what does Ward's 'shadow work' reveal about the radical act of finding hope? In an age of AI, why does Jesmyn Ward argue that true storytelling can only emerge from wrestling with personal pain?