The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University will co-host an evening with acclaimed author Jesmyn Ward on May 19 at Tulane University, in partnership with Baldwin & Co.
The event, scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. at McAlister Auditorium, will feature Ward in conversation with novelist Robert Jones Jr., followed by a meet and greet opportunity.
The conversation will focus on her latest book, On Witness and Repair, a collection of essays exploring grief, memory, motherhood and the Black experience in America.
Jones, whose debut novel The Prophets was a finalist for the National Book Award, will join Ward for a conversation on literature, history and storytelling.
Ward, a two-time National Book Award winner, is widely regarded as one of the most powerful literary voices of her generation. She is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and a professor of English at Tulane University, where she teaches creative writing. Her body of work includes the novels Where the Line Bleeds, Salvage the Bones — which won the 2011 National Book Award — and Sing, Unburied, Sing, which received the same honor in 2017. Her most recent novel, Let Us Descend, further cements her reputation for lyrical storytelling rooted in the American South.
In addition to her fiction, Ward is the author of the memoir Men We Reaped, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and editor of the anthology The Fire This Time. She has received numerous honors, including a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation fellowship, often referred to as the “Genius Grant,” and the Strauss Living Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
“We are thrilled to co-host this special evening with Jesmyn Ward, a distinguished member of Tulane’s faculty and a beloved voice at the festival,” said Cheryl Landrieu, co-chair of the festival. “Her work continues to shape contemporary literature, and it’s especially meaningful to welcome her back in partnership with Baldwin & Co. for a conversation that will resonate deeply with our community.”
Tickets are available on Eventbrite. Attendees requiring accessibility accommodations should contact the New Orleans Book Festival at bookfest@tulane.edu or 504-314-7443 at least two weeks in advance of the event.
