Jesmyn Ward is one of the most acclaimed contemporary writers and is celebrated for her compelling portrayals of family, resilience, race and the rural South. Ward is a native of Mississippi, where many of her books are set.
She is the author of the novels Where the Line Bleeds, Salvage the Bones, Sing, Unburied, Sing, and Let Us Descend; the memoir Men We Reaped; and the essay collection On Witness and Respair: Essays.
Ward is the only woman and the first person of color to receive two National Book Awards for Fiction and was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People.
She is also the recipient of the 2022 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. The Oprah Magazine recognized Ward as “an attentive and precise writer” who tells “stories we need to hear with race clarity and power.”