A while ago (when Hurricane Katrina ripped through the US) when we were trying to find missing Xenites, a missing member of our Xenaverse family's name popped up. Her name was Belle Star (aka Jesmyn Ward - pictured).

Out of that whole tragedy comes some really cool news. Jesmyn wrote a novel called Salvage the Bones which has won the prestigious National Book Award - that's some pretty heavy lifting in the literary world! Congratulations to Jesmyn and I'm looking forward to reading it.

We have some extraordinary gifted writers and artists in this fandom and it's quite exciting to have another award winning author in our ranks!

Read Jesmyn's interview with EW.com on her award and her book

What is Salvage The Bones about?

A hurricane is building over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the coastal town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, and Esch's father is growing concerned. A hard drinker, largely absent, he doesn't show concern for much else. Esch and her three brothers are stocking food, but there isn't much to save. Lately, Esch can't keep down what food she gets; she's fourteen and pregnant. Her brother Skeetah is sneaking scraps for his prized pitbull's new litter, dying one by one in the dirt. Meanwhile, brothers Randall and Junior try to stake their claim in a family long on child's play and short on parenting.

As the twelve days that make up the novel's framework yield to their dramatic conclusion, this unforgettable family-motherless children sacrificing for one another as they can, protecting and nurturing where love is scarce-pulls itself up to face another day. A big-hearted novel about familial love and community against all odds, and a wrenching look at the lonesome, brutal, and restrictive realities of rural poverty, Salvage the Bones is muscled with poetry, revelatory, and real.