20 Facts About Jesmyn Ward

Jesmyn Ward was born on April 1,1977 and is an American novelist and a professor of English at Tulane University, where she holds the Andrew W Mellon Professorship in the Humanities.

Jesmyn Ward 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.

Jesmyn Ward won the 2017 National Book Award for Fiction for her novel Sing, Unburied, Sing.

Jesmyn Ward is the only woman and only African American to win the National Book Award for Fiction twice.

Jesmyn Ward 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.

The first in her family to attend college, Jesmyn 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.

Jesmyn Ward chose to become a writer to honor the memory of her younger brother, who was killed by a drunk driver in October 2000, just after Jesmyn Ward had completed her master's degree.

In 2005, Jesmyn Ward earned a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan.

Jesmyn Ward went on to work at the University of New Orleans, where her daily commute took her through the neighborhoods ravaged by the hurricane.

In 2008, just as Jesmyn Ward had decided to give up writing and enroll in a nursing program, Where the Line Bleeds was accepted by Agate Publishing.

From 2008 to 2010, Jesmyn Ward had a Stegner Fellowship at Stanford University.

On November 16,2011, Jesmyn Ward won the National Book Award for Fiction for Salvage the Bones.

Jesmyn Ward received an Alex Award for Salvage the Bones on January 23,2012.

From 2011 to 2014, Jesmyn Ward was an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of South Alabama.

Jesmyn Ward joined the faculty at Tulane in the fall of 2014.

In July 2011, Jesmyn Ward wrote that she had finished the first draft of her third book, calling it the hardest thing she had ever written.

Jesmyn Ward thus became the first woman and first Black American to win two National Book Awards for Fiction.

Jesmyn Ward is a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.

At age 45, Jesmyn Ward is the youngest person to receive the Library's fiction award for her lifetime of work.

Jesmyn Ward wrote about his death in an article for Vanity Fair.