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
January 2021
Top 10s
Top 10 books about children fending for themselves
Facing up to the world without adult support is present in Greek myths and remains a key theme in authors from Anna Burns to Douglas Stuart and Rachel Kushner
May 2018
Jesmyn Ward: ‘Black girls are silenced, misunderstood and underestimated'
The author of Sing, Unburied, Sing, had a tough childhood in Mississippi, survived Hurricane Katrina, and became the first woman to win two US national book awards for fiction
April 2018
In brief: The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race; The Half Sister; Floating – review
Powerful essays inspired by James Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time, Catherine Chanter’s gripping family tragedy, and Joe Minihane’s wild swimmming pilgrimage
November 2017
Book of the day
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward review – slow apocalypse of black America
Meet the author
Jesmyn Ward: ‘So much of life is pain and sorrow and wilful ignorance’
October 2017
Raising a black son in the US: ‘He had never taken a breath, and I was already mourning him’
Even before her son was born, Jesmyn Ward was preoccupied with one thing – how she would prepare him for survival
September 2017
National Book awards 2017: Jesmyn Ward and Jennifer Egan among finalists
The longlist for the biggest prize in American literature includes previous finalists as well as a host of debut authors
December 2011
Jesmyn Ward: 'I wanted to write about the people of the south'
The winner for the US National Book Award for her novel Salvage the Bones on how the book was inspired by her family's gut-wrenching experience during Hurricane Katrina in 2005
November 2011
Hurricane Katrina novel wins National Book Award
Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones takes prestigious US prize after rejections had left her close to giving up writing
