Edward P. Jones' Tales of 'Aunt Hagar's Children'
The Author Reads His Work
From 'All Aunt Hagar's Children'
"I made a great effort... to present characters who originated in the South," Edward P. Jones says of his latest book. Jerry Bauer hide caption
"I made a great effort... to present characters who originated in the South," Edward P. Jones says of his latest book.
Jerry BauerEdward P. Jones On...
Writing About People, Not Politics
His Relationship to Washington, D.C.
Edward P. Jones' portrait of Washington, D.C., is a mix of the real and the supernatural. It's a place where grandparents struggle to raise grandkids. And it's where the devil -- wearing a purple tie and two-toned shoes -- swims across the river.
Jones, a D.C. native, won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Known World, a tale of black slave owners in the antebellum South.
His latest published work is a collection of short stories called All Aunt Hagar's Children. His hometown is more than the setting for these stories ... it reads more like a major character.
"It just so happens that I was born and raised in Washington," Jones says. "Had I been born in Chicago, or San Antonio, the streets and places would have figured into whatever I wrote. Just so happens that it's Washington, D.C."
