The Books of Jesmyn Ward

Ward’s latest book, already named a finalist for this year’s Kirkus Prize, is told through the eyes of Annis, a slave who has just been sold south by the white man who is both her enslaver and father. We follow Annis from the Carolinas to Louisiana as she copes with the horrors of her reality while seeking comfort in memories and visitations from spirits of the past and the Earth. The Washington Post calls it “a triumph.”

This is the National Book Award winner’s debut and the first of three novels set in the fictional coastal town of Bois Sauvage, MS, which tap into cultural and familial dynamics of small town southern life. This first book takes course over a summer and follows teenage fraternal twins as they look for jobs in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It deals with themes of addiction, poverty, and the power of brotherly love.

Ward’s second novel won the National Book Award and again brings the reader to Bois Sauvage. This time we follow pregnant 14-year-old Esch and her family in the days leading up to and after Hurricane Katrina. The book stares down the compounding crises of poverty, violence, sexual abuse, and natural disaster. Novelist John Vercher celebrated the book’s lyricism, saying, “Even though you know you're reading prose, it comes off like poetry.

The final book in the trilogy, and arguably the most acclaimed, brought Ward another National Book Award win and was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize and several other prestigious literary honors. Again, Ward crafts an intimate portrait of a rural Mississippi family, this time infused with the trope of the classic American road novel. The Boston Globe’s Renée Graham called it “A furious brew with hints of Toni Morrison and Homer’s The Odyssey.”

The author’s first nonfiction title, a memoir, was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist. Ward lays bare the experience of living through the death of five young men she was close to over a period of five years, while also prodding at the social and cultural context which provoked the losses.

This collection of essays and poems edited by Ward , which draws its name from James Baldwin’s 1963 book The Fire Next Time, explore the long legacy of racism in American history and its continued impact on the present. Contributors include Carol Anderson, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, and Clint Smith.

This illustrated book, adapted from Ward’s 2018 commencement speech at Tulane University, delivers a moving ode to the importance and power of hard work and respecting others and oneself. A great read for recent grads or anyone facing a profound new challenge.