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The Latest Breaking News from Jesmyn Ward

Best memoirs of all time

Delve into fascinating, gut-wrenching and healing snippets of life

Evening Standard

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward review – a plantation hell

This powerful tale of an enslaved woman’s journey through the deep south draws on Dante and African spirit mythology

The Guardian - UK

Jesmyn Ward's 'Let Us Descend' is among the finalists for an Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence

Jesmyn Ward’s slave narrative “Let Us Descend” and Jake Bittle’s exploration of climate change’s impact “The Great Displacement” are among the finalists for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in fiction and nonfiction

The Independent UK

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A cosmic ocean of shame: Jesmyn Ward's Let Us Descend confronts a history beyond the ken of storytelling

It is worth asking whether there are topics beyond the capacity of the novel. Are there subjects so immense in historical scope and in depths of human suffering that a form engineered to tackle but a bare handful of lives in sufficient detail cannot possibly accommodate them?

The Conversation

'Let Us Descend' follows a slave on a painful journey — finding some hope on the way

Jesmyn Ward's narrative forces readers to look at our country's ugly past and face the lingering effects of history — but it also tells a story of perseverance and the power of the spiritual world.

WEKU

Oprah Winfrey selects Jesmyn Ward's 'Let Us Descend' for her book club

Oprah Winfrey’s new book club pick highlights an author she has long admired, Jesmyn Ward

The Independent UK

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward review – a gruelling trek through the antebellum south

The two-time winner of the National Book award returns with the tale of an enslaved woman’s journey to Louisiana, rendered in relentless detail

The Guardian - UK

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Novelist Jesmyn Ward: ‘Losing my partner almost made me stop writing’

When the father of her children died suddenly, the US National Book award-winning author’s world fell apart. Three years on, she talks about grief, starting over and how she wrote her searing new novel about slavery

The Guardian - UK

Kirkus Prize names Jesmyn Ward, Héctor Tobar among finalists for top literary award

Finalists for a leading annual literary award were announced Wednesday. The Kirkus Prize awards $50,000 to writers working in the categories of Fiction, Nonfiction, and Young Readers' Literature.

WEKU

Authors Jesmyn Ward and James McBride are among the nominees for the 10th annual Kirkus Prizes

Novels by Jesmyn Ward and James McBride and story collections by Jamal Brinkley and Kelly Link are among the finalists for the Kirkus Prizes, for which winners in fiction, nonfiction and young reader’s literature each receive $50,000

The Independent UK

Fall books: Britney and Barbra's memoirs are among major releases, but political books are fewer

Joe Biden and Donald Trump are the most likely nominees for the 2024 presidential election, but you won't see many new books about either this fall

The Independent UK

Jesmyn Ward novel 'Let Us Descend' to be published Oct. 3

The next novel by two-time National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward is the story of an enslaved teenage girl that the publisher is calling a blend of magical realism, historical narrative and Dante’s “Inferno.”

The Independent UK

Jesmyn Ward becomes youngest author to receive Library of Congress fiction award

Ward’s “Salvage the Bones” earned the 2011 National Book Award and her “Sing, Unburied, Sing” was winner of the 2017 National Book Award.

Chicago Sun-Times

Author Jesmyn Ward wins Library of Congress fiction prize

The 2022 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction has gone to Jesmyn Ward, who at 45, is the youngest person to receive the library’s fiction award and is being honored for her lifetime of work examining racism and social injustice

The Independent UK

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