jesmyn ward

Education

Award-winning author Jesmyn Ward to speak at Wake Forest University Dec. 5

7:00am December 05, 2024

MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient and two-time National Book Award-winner Jesmyn Ward will be speaking at Wake Forest University tonight. The conversation is part of the university’s Face to Face Speaker Forum.

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Aspen finalists: Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward; What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah; Exit West by Mohsin Hamid; Mad Country by Samrat Upadhyay; What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons

Books

Mohsin Hamid's 'Exit West' Wins First-Ever Aspen Words Literary Prize

8:50pm April 10, 2018

by Colin Dwyer

His magical realist novel on the lives of refugees "hints at possibilities for doing better," judges said. And it won him the prize, which recognizes fiction tackling today's thorniest social issues.

Books

Aspen Words Literary Prize Finalists 'Capture The Messiness Of Reality'

11:02am March 05, 2018

by Colin Dwyer

The award, which focuses on pressing social issues, has revealed its inaugural shortlist — including fiction by Jesmyn Ward, Zinzi Clemmons, Mohsin Hamid, Samrat Upadhyay and Lesley Nneka Arimah.

The 2017 National Book Awards were announced in New York City on Nov. 15.

Jesmyn Ward, Frank Bidart, Masha Gessen And Robin Benway Win National Book Awards

11:06pm November 15, 2017

by Colin Dwyer

For Ward, who won the fiction prize for Sing, Unburied, Sing, it was her second National Book Award. For Bidart, whose poetry collection spanned 51 years, it was akin to a lifetime achievement honor.

Here Are The 2017 MacArthur 'Genius' Grant Winners

5:10pm October 11, 2017

by Colin Dwyer

Jason De León, Njideka Akunyili Crosby and Derek Peterson are among the 24 winners of this year's MacArthur Fellowship, which honors "extraordinarily talented and creative individuals."

Jesmyn Ward poses for a portrait near DeLisle Bayou in DeLisle, Miss. Ward, 40, has chosen to return to DeLisle and raise her children there, despite her profound ambivalence about what the town represents.

Books
Arts

Writing Mississippi: Jesmyn Ward Salvages Stories Of The Silenced

4:31pm August 31, 2017

by Melissa Block

The author's books are set in the poor, black Mississippi community where she grew up, a place where, she says, "the past bears very heavily on the present."

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Books
Arts

'The Fire This Time': A New Generation Of Writers On Race In America

4:32pm August 02, 2016

by NPR Staff

Author Jesmyn Ward invited prominent writers from her generation to pen essays for The Fire This Time. It's a nod to James Baldwin's work of a similar name, which warned of today's racial tension.

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Beyoncé, in a scene from the video for "Formation."

In Beyoncé's 'Formation,' A Glorification Of 'Bama' Blackness

10:02am February 10, 2016

by Jesmyn Ward

Beyoncé's latest song is for the black Southern woman, says National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward, who's from Mississippi. It's a message she needed to hear.