Jesmyn Ward is an accomplished American novelist, known for her literary fiction and distinctive writing style. She has received numerous prestigious awards for her work, including the National Book Award for Fiction in 2011 for her novel "Salvage the Bones," and the Alex Award in 2012. Ward's writing is known for its poetic quality and lyrical language, which sets her apart in the literary world.
Ward's journey to becoming a writer was not a typical one, but rather inspired by a tragic event. Ward's writing ambition was sparked by a spur-of-the-moment action, and upon reflection, it seemed that her career path was fatefully determined by the inspiration behind it. Ward's writing has been influenced by her personal experiences and the community she grew up in, which is reflected in the themes and characters in her novels.
Jesmyn Ward has written several notable novels, including "Where the Line Bleeds," "Salvage the Bones," and "Men We Reaped." Her work has also appeared in various publications such as BOMB, A Public Space, and The Oxford American. Ward has held several esteemed positions, including a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi. She is currently an associate professor of Creative Writing at Tulane University.
In addition to her success as a novelist, Ward has received numerous accolades for her work. She has been awarded the MacArthur Genius Grant, a Stegner Fellowship, a John and Renee Grisham Writers Residency, and the Strauss Living Prize. Ward is also a two-time National Book Award winner for Fiction for her novels "Sing, Unburied, Sing" (2017) and "Salvage the Bones" (2011). She is also the author of the novel "Where the Line Bleeds" and the memoir "Men We Reaped," which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and won the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize and the Media for a Just Society Award. Ward currently resides in Mississippi.