Jesmyn Ward
State: Mississippi
Jesmyn Ward (born April 1, 1977) is a two-time National Book Award–winning novelist, memoirist, and essayist celebrated for her lyrical portrayals of Black life on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi. Raised in DeLisle, Mississippi, and holding degrees from Stanford and an MFA from the University of Michigan, she wrote her breakout novel Salvage the Bones (2011), which explores a family's struggle through Hurricane Katrina and earned her first National Book Award. Her novel Sing, Unburied, Sing (2017) blends multi-generational narratives with elements of magical realism and garnered her second National Book Award. Her memoir, Men We Reaped (2013), candidly reflects on personal loss and systemic injustice. A recipient of a MacArthur “Genius” Grant in 2017, Ward is also a professor at Tulane University and editor of the acclaimed essay anthology The Fire This Time.
Genres: Contemporary, Historical Fiction, Memoir, Nonfiction, Paranormal
Audiences: Adult