Cattle Haul (Electric Literature's Recommended Reading Book 1)

3.9/5 ( ratings)

"I tried not to think about what I had: a daddy slipping me crystal because he thought it was helping me make money, a asshole redneck boss, and a girl I hadn’t seen in almost a month, when I felt the sickness coming on."

In her editor's note, Brigid Hughes writes that this "glorious story," which was National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward's first publication, has been unavailable to readers ever since A Public Space 5 sold out. "We’re so thrilled that Recommended Reading will give this story a new readership, and a new life."

Author bio:
Jesmyn Ward grew up in DeLisle, Mississippi. She received her MFA from the University of Michigan, where she won five Hopwood awards for essays, drama, and fiction. A Stegner Fellow at Stanford from 2008 to 2010, she is currently the Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi. Her debut novel, Where the Line Bleeds, was an Essence Book Club selection, a Black Caucus of the ALA Honor Award recipient, and a finalist for both the Virginia Commonwealth University Cabell First Novelist Award and the Hurston/ Wright Legacy Award. Her second novel, Salvage The Bones, was a finalist for the 2012 Young Lions Fiction Award and the 2012 Indie Choice Award, and is the winner of the 2012 Alex Award and the 2011 National Book Award in Fiction.

About Recommended Reading:
Great authors inspire us. But what about the stories that inspire them? Recommended Reading, the latest project from Electric Literature, publishes one story every week, each chosen by a great author or editor. In this age of distraction, we uncover writing that's worth slowing down and spending some time with. And in doing so, we help give great writers, literary magazines, and independent presses the recognition they deserve.

About this week's guest editor:
A Public Space, an independent print magazine of literature and culture, was founded in 2006 to present innovative and meaningful new work for the twenty-first century. In her essay in our debut issue, Marilynne Robinson asks, "Why write fiction? ... and why read it? What does it mean? Why does it matter?" These questions continue to invigorate the magazine. For more information, and to subscribe, visit www.apublicspace.org.