Jesmyn Ward

{{Infobox writer

| name = Jesmyn Ward

| image = Jesmyn_Ward.jpeg

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1977|4|1}}

| birth_place = Berkeley, California, U.S.

| occupation = Writer, professor

| language = English

| alma_mater = {{Unbulleted list|Stanford University (BA, MA)|University of Michigan (MFA)}}

| genres = Fiction, memoir

| notableworks = {{Unbulleted list|Salvage the Bones|The Fire This Time (ed.)|Sing, Unburied, Sing}}

| awards = {{Unbulleted list|National Book Award for Fiction (2011, 2017)|MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship (2017)}}

| website = {{URL|jesmimi.blogspot.com/}}

}}

Jesmyn Ward (born April 1, 1977) is an American novelist and a professor of English at Tulane University, where she holds the Andrew W. Mellon Professorship in the Humanities. She won the 2011 National Book Award for Fiction for her second novel Salvage the Bones, a story about familial love and community in facing Hurricane Katrina. She won the 2017 National Book Award for Fiction for her novel Sing, Unburied, Sing.

She is the only woman and only African American to win the National Book Award for Fiction twice. All of Ward's first three novels are set in the fictitious Mississippi town of Bois Sauvage. In her fourth novel, Let Us Descend, the main character Annis perhaps inhabits an earlier Bois Sauvage when she is taken shackled from the Carolina coast and put to work on a Mississippi sugar plantation near New Orleans.

Early life and education

Jesmyn Ward was born in 1977 in Berkeley, California.{{Cite book |last=Ward |first=Jesmyn |title=Men We Reaped: A Memoir |date=September 16, 2014 |isbn=978-1608197651 |edition=Paperback |location=New York |page=42 |oclc=869343489}} When she was three, her parents returned to DeLisle, Mississippi, where they were originally from.{{cite news |last=Cardé |first=Leslie |title=Meet Jesmyn Ward, the celebrated novelist speaking at Tulane's commencement | newspaper=The Advocate |location=New Orleans |date=May 18, 2018 |url=https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/news/education/article_2ca631d4-591b-11e8-9e70-ab7feec6cd35.html |access-date=October 17, 2023}} She reportedly developed a love-hate relationship with her hometown after having been bullied by classmates both at public school and while attending a private school paid for by her mother's employer.Ed Lavandera (November 18, 2011). [http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/18/author-wins-prestigious-award-for-book-ignored-by-literary-world/ "Ignored by literary world, Jesmyn Ward wins National Book Award"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122095732/http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/18/author-wins-prestigious-award-for-book-ignored-by-literary-world/ |date=November 22, 2011 }}, CNN.

The first in her family to attend college, Ward earned a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1999, and a Master of Arts in media studies and communication in 2000, both at Stanford University.Judy Johnson (March 2014). "Jesmyn Ward." Current Biography. Vol. 75, no. 3. p. 86. Abstract retrieved via ProQuest database. September 3, 2017. "The first in her family to attend college, Ward was admitted to Stanford University, where she earned both her bachelor's degree in English in 1999 and master's degree in media studies and communication in 2000.""[https://alumni-gsb.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=59971 Red All Over] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216174234/https://stanfordmag.org/contents/red-all-over-843 |date=February 16, 2021 }}". Stanford Magazine. Stanford Alumni Association. March/April 2013. Retrieved September 3, 2017. Refers to "Jesmyn Ward, '99, MA '00" as the author of Salvage the Bones, one of the titles chosen to be distributed at the university's World Book Night in April 2013.Jesmyn Ward (September 3, 2013). "[https://www.guernicamag.com/no-mercy-in-motion/ No Mercy in Motion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170904014858/https://www.guernicamag.com/no-mercy-in-motion/ |date=September 4, 2017 }}". Guernica. guernicamag.com. Retrieved September 3, 2017. Ward chose to become a writer to honor the memory of her younger brother,Julie Bosman (November 16, 2011). [http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/celebratory-night-for-the-book-world/#more-244085 "National Book Awards Go to 'Salvage the Bones' and 'Swerve'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111121065319/http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/celebratory-night-for-the-book-world/#more-244085 |date=November 21, 2011 }}, The New York Times. who was killed by a drunk driver in October 2000, just after Ward had completed her master's degree.Staff and wire reports/Susan Whitall (November 18, 2011). [http://detnews.com/article/20111118/LIFESTYLE/111180376/1005/lifestyle/U-M-grad-takes-top-national-book-honor "U-M grad takes top national book honor"].{{dead link|date=September 2017}} The Detroit News. The driver responsible was not charged for her brother's death, only for leaving the scene of the car accident.Ward, Jesmyn. “On Witness and Respair: A Personal Tragedy Followed by Pandemic.” Vanity Fair, 1 Sept. 2020, www.vanityfair.com/culture/2020/08/jesmyn-ward-on-husbands-death-and-grief-during-covid.

In 2005, Ward earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. Shortly afterwards, she and her family were impacted by Hurricane Katrina. With their house in DeLisle flooding rapidly, the Ward family set out in their car to get to a local church, but ended up stranded in a field full of tractors. When the owners of the land eventually checked on their possessions, they refused to invite the Wards into their home, claiming they were overcrowded. The family was eventually given shelter by another family down the road.Alison Flood (November 17, 2011). [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/nov/17/hurricane-katrina-novel-national-book-award "Hurricane Katrina novel wins National Book Award"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322034117/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/nov/17/hurricane-katrina-novel-national-book-award |date=March 22, 2016 }}, The Guardian.

Ward went on to work at the University of New Orleans, where her daily commute took her through the neighborhoods ravaged by the hurricane. Empathizing with the struggle of the survivors and coming to terms with her own experience during the storm, Ward was unable to write creatively for three years – the time it took her to find a publisher for her first novel, Where the Line Bleeds.Noam Cohen (November 19, 2011). [http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/breakfast-meeting-nov-17/ "Breakfast Meeting, Nov. 17"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123162220/http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/breakfast-meeting-nov-17/ |date=November 23, 2011 }}, The New York Times.

Career

In 2008, just as Ward had decided to give up writing and enroll in a nursing program, Where the Line Bleeds was accepted by Agate Publishing. The novel was picked as a book club selection by Essence magazine and received a Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) Honor Award in 2009.{{cite web|date=January 25, 2009 |url=http://www.bcala.org/awards/2009literary_winners.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426001228/http://www.bcala.org/awards/2009literary_winners.htm |archive-date=April 26, 2012 |title=BCALA Announces the 2009 Literary Awards Winners |author=BCALA Literary Awards Committee |publisher=Black Caucus of the American Library Association. bcala.org |type=press release |access-date=September 3, 2017}} It was shortlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist AwardStaff (January 25, 2009). [http://novelist.library.vcu.edu/winners.html "Eighth Annual VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, 2009: Deb Olin Unferth for Vacation (McSweeney's)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111206215430/http://novelist.library.vcu.edu/winners.html |date=December 6, 2011 }}, Virginia Commonwealth University Cabell First Novelist Award. and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award.{{Cite web |title=Salvage the Bones |url=https://www.nationalbook.org/books/salvage-the-bones/ |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=National Book Foundation |language=en-US}} Starting on the day twin protagonists Joshua and Christophe DeLisle graduate from high school,Staff (BOMB 105/FAll 2008). [http://bombsite.com/issues/105/articles/3193 "Where the Line Bleeds by Jesmyn Ward. Read by Jesmyn Ward. Podcast"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110110203/http://bombsite.com/issues/105/articles/3193 |date=November 10, 2011 }}, BOMB Magazine. Where the Line Bleeds follows the brothers as their choices pull them in opposite directions. Unwilling to leave the small rural town on the Mississippi Coast where they were raised by their loving grandmother, the twins struggle to find work, with Joshua eventually becoming a dock hand and Christophe joining his drug-dealing cousin. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly called Ward "a fresh new voice in American literature" who "unflinchingly describes a world full of despair but not devoid of hope."Staff (September 22, 2008). [http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-932841-38-1 "Fiction Review: Where the Line Bleeds by Jesmyn Ward"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111219112830/http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-932841-38-1 |date=December 19, 2011 }}, Publishers Weekly.

From 2008 to 2010, Ward had a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University.Stanford Creative Writing Program. [http://www.stanford.edu/group/creativewriting/fellows.html "Current and Recent Stegner Fellows"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111113140755/http://www.stanford.edu/group/creativewriting/fellows.html |date=November 13, 2011 }}, Stanford University. She was the John and Renée Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi for the 2010–2011 academic year.English Department. [http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/mfa/WiR.html "John and Renée Grisham Writers in Residence"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111019201929/http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/english/mfa/WiR.html |date=October 19, 2011 }}, University of Mississippi.

In her second novel, Salvage the Bones, Ward homed in once more on the visceral bond between poor black siblings growing up on the Mississippi Coast. Chronicling the lives of pregnant teenager Esch Batiste, her three brothers, and their father during the 10 days leading up to Hurricane Katrina, the day of the storm, and the day after,Jeffrey Brown (August 26, 2011). [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2011/08/in-salvage-the-bones-jesmyn-ward-tells-personal-story-of-hurricane-katrina.html "In 'Salvage the Bones,' Jesmyn Ward Tells Personal Story of Hurricane Katrina"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140117164204/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/art/blog/2011/08/in-salvage-the-bones-jesmyn-ward-tells-personal-story-of-hurricane-katrina.html|date=January 17, 2014}}, PBS NewsHour.Staff (May 23, 2011). [http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-60819-522-0 "Fiction Review: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202124533/http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-60819-522-0 |date=February 2, 2014 }}, Publishers Weekly. Ward uses vibrant language steeped in metaphors to illuminate the fundamental aspects of love, friendship, passion, and tenderness.Ron Charles (November 9, 2011). [https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/jesmyn-wards-salvage-the-bones-reviewed-by-ron-charles/2011/10/31/gIQAuLni3M_story.html "The turmoil before the storm"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216174235/https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/jesmyn-wards-salvage-the-bones-reviewed-by-ron-charles/2011/10/31/gIQAuLni3M_story.html |date=February 16, 2021 }}, The Washington Post. Explaining her main character's fascination with the Greek mythological figure of Medea, Ward told Elizabeth Hoover of The Paris Review: "It infuriates me that the work of white American writers can be universal and lay claim to classic texts, while black and female authors are ghetto-ized as 'other'. I wanted to align Esch with that classic text, with the universal figure of Medea, the antihero, to claim that tradition as part of my Western literary heritage. The stories I write are particular to my community and my people, which means the details are particular to our circumstances, but the larger story of the survivor, the savage, is essentially a universal, human one."Elizabeth Hoover (August 30, 2011). [http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/08/30/jesmyn-ward-on-salvage-the-bones/ "Jesmyn Ward on 'Salvage the Bones'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120221114019/http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/08/30/jesmyn-ward-on-salvage-the-bones/ |date=February 21, 2012 }}, The Paris Review.

On November 16, 2011, Ward won the National Book Award for Fiction for Salvage the Bones. Interviewed by CNN's Ed Lavandera on November 16, 2011, she said that both her nomination and her victory had come as a surprise, given that the novel had been largely ignored by mainstream reviewers. "When I hear people talking about the fact that they think we live in a post-racial America, … it blows my mind, because I don't know that place. I've never lived there. … If one day, … they're able to pick up my work and read it and see … the characters in my books as human beings and feel for them, then I think that that is a political act", Ward stated in a television interview with Anna Bressanin of BBC News on December 22, 2011.Anna Bressanin (December 22, 2011). [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16296382 "How Hurricane Katrina shaped acclaimed Jesmyn Ward book"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127131951/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16296382 |date=November 27, 2013 }}, BBC News Magazine.

Ward received an Alex Award for Salvage the Bones on January 23, 2012.Angela Carstensen (January 24, 2012). [http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/adult4teen/2012/01/24/the-alex-awards-2012/ "The Alex Awards, 2012"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120127135710/http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/adult4teen/2012/01/24/the-alex-awards-2012|date=January 27, 2012}}, School Library Journal. The Alex Awards are given out each year by the Young Adult Library Services Association to ten books written for adults that resonate strongly with young people aged 12–18.Staff (January 23, 2012). [http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/alex "YALSA's Alex Awards"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504201024/http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists/alex |date=May 4, 2016 }}, Young Adult Library Services Association. Commenting on the winning books in School Library Journal, former Alex Award committee chair Angela Carstensen described Salvage the Bones as a novel with "a small but intense following – each reader has passed the book to a friend."

From 2011 to 2014, Ward was an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of South Alabama.Jennifer Xu (November 15, 2011). [http://www.michigandaily.com/arts/jesmyn-ward-article "'U' MFA alum Jesmyn Ward nominated for National Book Award for 'Salvage the Bones'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111119080706/http://www.michigandaily.com/arts/jesmyn-ward-article |date=November 19, 2011 }}, The Michigan Daily. Ward joined the faculty at Tulane in the fall of 2014.{{Cite web |title=Jesmyn Ward, School of Liberal Arts at Tulane University |url=https://liberalarts.tulane.edu/departments/english/people/faculty-staff/jesmyn-ward |access-date=2022-03-19 |website=School of Liberal Arts at Tulane University}}

In July 2011, Ward wrote that she had finished the first draft of her third book, calling it the hardest thing she had ever written.Jesmyn Ward (July 7, 2011). [http://jesmimi.blogspot.com/2011/07/nearly-there.html "nearly there"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111219104208/http://jesmimi.blogspot.com/2011/07/nearly-there.html |date=December 19, 2011 }}, Jesmimi. It was a memoir titled Men We Reaped and was published in 2013. The book explores the lives of her brother and four other young black men who lost their lives in her hometown.

In August 2016, Simon & Schuster released The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race, edited by Ward. The book takes as its starting point James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time, his classic 1963 examination of race in America. Contributors to The Fire This Time include Carol Anderson, Jericho Brown, Garnett Cadogan, Edwidge Danticat, Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, Mitchell S. Jackson, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Kima Jones, Kiese Laymon, Daniel José Older, Emily Raboteau, Claudia Rankine, Clint Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Wendy S. Walters, Isabel Wilkerson, Kevin Young, and Jesmyn Ward herself.

In 2017, she was the recipient of a MacArthur "genius grant" from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.{{cite web|url=https://www.macfound.org/fellows/997/|title=MacArthur Foundation|website=www.macfound.org|access-date=October 11, 2017|archive-date=March 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322223019/https://www.macfound.org/fellows/997/|url-status=live}}

Her third novel, Sing, Unburied, Sing, was released in 2017[http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Sing-Unburied-Sing/Jesmyn-Ward/9781501126062 "Sing, Unburied, Sing"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226221934/http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Sing-Unburied-Sing/Jesmyn-Ward/9781501126062 |date=December 26, 2016 }} at Simon & Schuster.

Set in Ward's fictitious Mississippi town, Bois Sauvage, the novel is narrated from three perspectives mainly within a rural family. Jojo, a young African-American boy, navigates a maturation from childhood to adulthood. His mother, Leonie, struggles with addiction and the challenges of raising children. Finally, Richie, a wayward ghost from the Mississippi State Penitentiary, haunts Jojo and pleads with his family to help him find closure.

The novel won the 2017 National Book Award for fiction.{{Cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2017-national-book-award-finalists/|title=2017 National Book Award finalists revealed|date=October 4, 2017|work=CBS News|access-date=October 4, 2017|language=en|archive-date=March 17, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180317214232/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2017-national-book-award-finalists/|url-status=live}}Paula Rogo, [https://www.essence.com/culture/jesmyn-ward-second-national-book-award-sing-unburied-sing "Jesmyn Ward Wins Second National Book Award for 'Sing, Unburied, Sing'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201032834/https://www.essence.com/culture/jesmyn-ward-second-national-book-award-sing-unburied-sing |date=December 1, 2017 }}, Essence, November 18, 2017.{{Cite web |title=Jesmyn Ward is the first woman to win two National Book Awards for Fiction |url=https://ew.com/books/2017/11/16/jesmyn-ward-first-woman-to-win-two-national-book-awards/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216174231/https://ew.com/books/2017/11/16/jesmyn-ward-first-woman-to-win-two-national-book-awards/ |archive-date=February 16, 2021 |access-date=2020-12-23 |website=EW.com}}

Ward thus became the first woman and first Black American to win two National Book Awards for Fiction.{{cite web|title=2017 National Book Awards|url=https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-2017|website=National Book Foundation|access-date=16 November 2017|archive-date=November 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181114141425/https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-2017/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/jesmyn-ward-is-the-first-woman-to-win-two-national-book-awards-for-fiction/ar-BBF2GgJ?OCID=ansmsnnews11|title=Jesmyn Ward is the first woman to win two National Book Awards for Fiction|website=www.msn.com|access-date=November 16, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820005829/https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/news/jesmyn-ward-is-the-first-woman-to-win-two-national-book-awards-for-fiction/ar-BBF2GgJ?OCID=ansmsnnews11|archive-date=August 20, 2018|url-status=dead}} The novel also won an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award.{{cite web|url=http://www.anisfield-wolf.org/books/sing-unburied-sing/?sortby=year|title=Sing, Unburied, Sing|access-date=August 19, 2018|archive-date=August 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180820090140/http://www.anisfield-wolf.org/books/sing-unburied-sing/?sortby=year|url-status=live}}

In 2018 Ward contributed her Prologue from Men We Reaped to a special edition of Xavier Review (Vol.38. No.2), which includes a foreword by Thomas Bonner, Jr. an afterword by Robin G. Vander (both editors of the volume), a chronology, and fifteen essays by scholars, including Trudier Harris and Keith Cartwright. At the time this was the first book-length publication on Ward.

Ward is a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.Kevin Le Gendre (March 2019), ([https://echoesmagazine.co.uk/2019/04/29/daughters-of-africa/ "Daughters Of Africa"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201106232058/https://echoesmagazine.co.uk/2019/04/29/daughters-of-africa/ |date=November 6, 2020 }}, Echoes magazine.

In 2020, Simon & Schuster published Ward's Navigate Your Stars, adapted from a speech the author made at Tulane's 2018 commencement.{{Cite book|url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Navigate-Your-Stars/Jesmyn-Ward/9781982131326|isbn=9781982131326|title=Navigate Your Stars|date=April 7, 2020|last1=Ward|first1=Jesmyn|publisher=Simon and Schuster }}

Ward's personal essay, "On Witness and Respair: A Personal Tragedy Followed by Pandemic", about the death of her husband, her grief, the spreading of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the resurgent Black Lives Matter movement, appeared in the September 2020 issue of Vanity Fair, guest-edited by Ta-Nehisi Coates.{{cite web |last1=Ward |first1=Jesmyn |title=On Witness and Respair: A Personal Tragedy Followed by Pandemic |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2020/08/jesmyn-ward-on-husbands-death-and-grief-during-covid |website=vanityfair.com |date=September 2020 |publisher=Vanity Fair |access-date=4 October 2020 |archive-date=February 1, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201084910/https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2020/08/jesmyn-ward-on-husbands-death-and-grief-during-covid |url-status=live }}

In 2022, the U.S. Library of Congress selected Ward as the winner of the Library's Prize for American Fiction. At age 45, Ward is the youngest person to receive the Library’s fiction award for her lifetime of work.{{Cite web |title=Jesmyn Ward |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/n2008035038/jesmyn-ward/ |access-date=2022-07-07 |website=Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA}}

In July 2024, she was one of only three authors (with Elena Ferrante and George Saunders) to have the most books (three) in “The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century”, a New York Times survey of 503 literary figures.{{cite web|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/12/books/review/critic-intro-best-books-century.html|title= Our Critic's Take on the 100 List: Books That 'Cast a Sustained Spell'|website= The New York Times|access-date= October 18, 2024}}

Personal life

Ward lives in Mississippi and has three children. Her husband, Brandon R. Miller, died in January 2020{{Cite web|url=https://www.lockettwilliams.com/obituary/brandon-miller|title=Brandon's obituary|access-date=September 1, 2020|archive-date=February 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216174221/https://www.lockettwilliams.com/obituary/brandon-miller|url-status=live}} of acute respiratory distress syndrome{{cite news |last1=Brockes |first1=Emma |title=Novelist Jesmyn Ward: 'Losing my partner almost made me stop writing' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/21/novelist-jesmyn-ward-losing-my-partner-almost-made-me-stop-writing |access-date=October 21, 2023 |work=The Guardian |date=October 21, 2023}} at the age of 33. Ward wrote about his death in an article for Vanity Fair.{{Cite magazine|last=Ward|first=Jesmyn|title=On Witness and Respair: A Personal Tragedy Followed by Pandemic|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2020/08/jesmyn-ward-on-husbands-death-and-grief-during-covid|date=2020-09-01|access-date=2020-09-01|magazine=Vanity Fair|language=en-us|archive-date=February 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201084910/https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2020/08/jesmyn-ward-on-husbands-death-and-grief-during-covid|url-status=live}}

Recognition

= Literary prizes =

2008 \| rowspan="2" \| Where the Line Bleeds \| First Novelist Award \|\| — \|\| {{sho\|Finalist}} \|\|
class="wikitable sortable" ! Year !! Title !! Award !Category!! Result !! Ref.
2009 \|Hurston/Wright Legacy Award \|\| Fiction \|\| {{nom}} \|
2011 \| rowspan="5" \| Salvage the Bones \|National Book Award \|\| Fiction \|\| {{won}} \|\|
rowspan="4" \|2012 \|Alex Awards \|\| — \|\| {{won}} \|\|
Dayton Literary Peace Prize	Fiction	{{sho\|Finalist}}
Hurston/Wright Legacy Award	Fiction	{{nom}} \|
Young Lions Fiction Award	—	{{sho\|Finalist}}
2013 \| rowspan="4" \| Men We Reaped\|\| National Book Critics Circle Award \|Autobiography/Memoir\|\| {{sho\|Finalist}} \|\|
rowspan="3" \| 2014 \| Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize \|Non-Fiction \|\|{{Won}} \|
Dayton Literary Peace Prize \|Nonfiction	{{sho\|Finalist}} \|
Hurston/Wright Legacy Award \|Nonfiction \|{{Nominated}} \|
rowspan="6" \| 2017 \| rowspan="18" \|Sing, Unburied, Sing \| Goodreads Choice Awards \|\| Fiction \|\| {{nom\|Nominated—7th}} \|{{Cite web \|title=Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Fiction! \|url=https://www.goodreads.com/choiceawards/best-fiction-books-2017 \|access-date=2024-12-31 \|website=Goodreads}}
Kirkus Prize	Fiction	{{sho\|Finalist}} \|{{Cite web \|title=KIRKUS ANNOUNCES THE WINNERS FOR THE 2017 KIRKUS PRIZE \|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/press-center/press/announces-2017-prize-winners/ \|access-date=2024-12-31 \|website=Kirkus Reviews \|language=en}}
Los Angeles Times Book Prize \|Fiction	{{sho\|Finalist}} \|
National Book Award	Fiction	{{won}} \|
National Book Critics Circle Award	Fiction	{{sho\|Finalist}} \|{{Cite web \|title=2017 \|url=https://www.bookcritics.org/past-awards/2017/ \|access-date=2024-12-31 \|website=National Book Critics Circle \|language=en-US}}
Reading Women Award	Fiction	{{sho}} \|
rowspan="10" \| 2018 \| Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence \|\| Fiction \|\| {{sho\|Finalist}} \|
Anisfield-Wolf Book Award	Fiction	{{won}} \|{{Cite web \|title=Sing, Unburied, Sing \|url=https://www.anisfield-wolf.org/winners/sing-unburied-sing/ \|access-date=November 10, 2020 \|website=Anisfield-Wolf \|language=en-US}}
Aspen Words Literary Prize	—	{{sho}} \|{{Cite web \|last=Weisman \|first=Jonathan \|date=2018-03-06 \|title=Awards: CWA Diamond Dagger; Aspen Words Shortlist \|url=https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=3198 \|access-date=2022-03-01 \|website=Shelf Awareness}}{{Cite web \|last=Dwyer \|title=Aspen Words Literary Prize Finalists 'Capture The Messiness Of Reality' \|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/05/590763240/aspen-words-literary-prize-finalists-capture-the-messiness-of-reality \|website=12-31-2024}}
BCALA Literary Awards	Fiction	{{sho\|Honor}} \|
Dayton Literary Peace Prize	Fiction	{{sho\|Finalist}} \|{{Cite web \|title=2018 – Dayton Literary Peace Prize \|url=https://www.daytonliterarypeaceprize.org/2018-2/ \|access-date=2024-12-31 \|language=en}}
Hurston/Wright Legacy Award	Fiction	{{nom}} \|{{Cite web \|last=Hipkins \|first=Audrey \|date=2018-10-22 \|title=2018 Legacy Award Winners Announced \|url=https://www.hurstonwright.org/2018-legacy-award-winners-announced/ \|access-date=2024-12-31 \|website=Hurston/Wright Foundation \|language=en-US}}
Indies Choice Book Awards	Adult Fiction	{{won}} \|{{Cite web \|title=2018 Indies Choice Book Awards and the E. B. White Read-Aloud Awards \|url=https://www.odysseybks.com/2018-indies-choice-book-awards%C2%A0and-%C2%A0eb-white-read-aloud-awards \|access-date=2024-12-31 \|website=The Odyssey Bookshop}}
NAACP Image Awards	Fiction	{{sho}}
PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction	—	{{sho\|Finalist}} \|{{Cite web \|title=Announcing the Winner of the 2018 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction! {{!}} The PEN/Faulkner Foundation \|url=https://www.penfaulkner.org/2018/04/04/announcing-the-winner-of-the-2018-penfaulkner-award-for-fiction/ \|access-date=2024-12-31 \|website=www.penfaulkner.org}}
Women's Prize for Fiction	—	{{sho}} \|{{Cite web \|last=Passmore \|first=Lynsey \|date=2018-04-25 \|title=Revealing the 2018 Women’s Prize shortlist… \|url=https://womensprize.com/revealing-the-2018-womens-prize-shortlist/ \|access-date=2024-12-31 \|website=Women's Prize \|language=en-US}}
rowspan="2" \| 2019 \| International Dublin Literary Award \|\| — \|\| {{nom\|Longlisted}} \|
Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award	—	{{won}} \|{{Cite web \|date=April 24, 2019 \|title=Jesmyn Ward's SING, UNBURIED, SING Wins Mark Twain American Voice In Literature Award \|url=https://marktwainhouse.org/2019/04/24/jesmyn-wards-sing-unburied-sing-wins-mark-twain-american-voice-in-literature-award/ \|access-date=November 10, 2020 \|website=Mark Twain House \|language=en-US}}
rowspan="3" \|2023 \| rowspan="7" \| Let Us Descend\|\| Kirkus Prize \| Fiction \|\| {{sho\|Finalist}} \|\|
rowspan="2" \| Libby Book Award \| Adult Fiction	{{sho\|Finalist}}
Historical Fiction	{{won}}
rowspan="4" \|2024 \| Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence \| Fiction \|\| {{sho\|Finalist}} \|\|
Aspen Words Literary Prize \| —	{{nom\|Longlisted}}
NAACP Image Awards \| Fiction	{{sho}}
Southern Book Prize \| Fiction	{{sho\|Finalist}}

= Other =

2018 Time 100{{cite magazine|author-link=Lee Daniels|last=Daniels|first=Lee|url=https://time.com/collection/most-influential-people-2018/5217535/jesmyn-ward/|title=Jesmyn Ward is on the 2018 TIME 100 List|magazine=Time|access-date=January 26, 2018|archive-date=April 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180420020608/http://time.com/collection/most-influential-people-2018/5217535/jesmyn-ward/|url-status=live}}
2022 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction

Works

=Fiction=

{{cite book |first=Jesmyn |last=Ward |author-mask=2 |title=Where the Line Bleeds |year=2008 |isbn=9781932841381 |publisher=Agate Publishing |location=Chicago |edition=paperback}}
{{cite book |first=Jesmyn |last=Ward |author-mask=2 |title=Salvage the Bones |year=2011 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9781608195220 |location=New York |edition=hardcover 1st}}
{{cite book |first=Jesmyn |last=Ward |author-mask=2 |title=Sing, Unburied, Sing |year=2017 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9781501126079 |location=New York |edition=hardcover 1st}}
{{cite book |first=Jesmyn |last=Ward |author-mask=2 |title=Let Us Descend |year=2023 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9781982104498 |location=New York |edition=hardcover 1st}}{{Cite news |last=Wilson |first=Jennifer |date=2023-10-20 |title=In Jesmyn Ward's New Novel, Slavery Is Hell and Dante Is Our Guide |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/20/books/review/let-us-descend-jesmyn-ward.html |access-date=2023-11-01 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news |last1=Brockes |first1=Emma |last2=@emmabrockes |date=2023-10-21 |title=Novelist Jesmyn Ward: 'Losing my partner almost made me stop writing' |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/oct/21/novelist-jesmyn-ward-losing-my-partner-almost-made-me-stop-writing |access-date=2023-11-01 |issn=0261-3077}}

=Nonfiction=

{{cite book |first=Jesmyn |last=Ward |author-mask=2 |title=Men We Reaped |year=2013 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9781608195213 |location=New York |edition=hardcover 1st}}
{{cite book |first=Jesmyn |last=Ward |author-mask=2 |title=The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race |year=2016 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9781501126345 |location=New York |edition=hardcover 1st}}
{{cite book |first=Jesmyn |last=Ward |author-mask=2 |title=Navigate Your Stars |year=2020 |publisher=Scribner |isbn=9781982131326 |location=New York |edition=hardcover 1st}}

References

External links

{{Official website|http://jesmimi.blogspot.com/|name=Official blog}}
{{Twitter|id=jesmimi}}
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCySoaT6Dhk Jesmyn Ward discusses Where the Line Bleeds], YouTube
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16296382 Jesmyn Ward – feature on BBC News]
[http://lccn.loc.gov/n2008035038 Jesmyn Ward] at Library of Congress Authorities — with 3 catalog records

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:African-American novelists

Category:American women novelists

Category:21st-century American memoirists

Category:American women memoirists

Category:National Book Award winners

Category:Stanford University alumni

Category:Stegner Fellows

Category:Novelists from Mississippi

Category:University of Michigan alumni

Category:University of South Alabama faculty