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On Witness and Respair: Essays
Not yet published
Expected 19 May 26
The collected creative nonfiction of a singular American writer, Jesmyn Ward, including widely shared classics, three never-before-published speeches, and an introductory essay.
Respair (noun, obsolete), fresh hope after despair.
From the two-time National Book Award winner and New York Times bestselling author Jesmyn Ward, this collection of essays documents more than a decade of work in the life of a singular writer often lauded as “the heir apparent to Toni Morrison” (LitHub). Beginning with her upbringing in a multigenerational household in rural Mississippi, the cradle of both her youth and her gift for storytelling, Ward brings her keen wisdom and hauntingly lyrical prose to a range of topics, following in her grandmother Dorothy’s footsteps when she promises always to “Tell it straight. Tell it all.”
True to her word, in these pages Ward contemplates the writers and novels of her youth and adulthood—the transformative power of discovering Octavia Butler as a twenty-something, the mirror that Richard Wright’s novels held up to her own childhood, and of course, her lifelong love for Toni Morrison. Ward ruminates on her approach to both fiction and life, reflecting on the power of the novel, how to raise a Black son in an era of rising divisiveness and cruelty, as well as her own personal tragedies—including the titular essay of the collection, which tells the story of her partner’s sudden death on the eve of the COVID-19 epidemic. Every bit as piercing and moving as her fiction, On Witness and Respair is a testament to Ward’s powers as “one of America’s finest living writers” (San Francisco Chronicle) and is a monument to hope, beauty, and personal and collective resilience.
Respair (noun, obsolete), fresh hope after despair.
From the two-time National Book Award winner and New York Times bestselling author Jesmyn Ward, this collection of essays documents more than a decade of work in the life of a singular writer often lauded as “the heir apparent to Toni Morrison” (LitHub). Beginning with her upbringing in a multigenerational household in rural Mississippi, the cradle of both her youth and her gift for storytelling, Ward brings her keen wisdom and hauntingly lyrical prose to a range of topics, following in her grandmother Dorothy’s footsteps when she promises always to “Tell it straight. Tell it all.”
True to her word, in these pages Ward contemplates the writers and novels of her youth and adulthood—the transformative power of discovering Octavia Butler as a twenty-something, the mirror that Richard Wright’s novels held up to her own childhood, and of course, her lifelong love for Toni Morrison. Ward ruminates on her approach to both fiction and life, reflecting on the power of the novel, how to raise a Black son in an era of rising divisiveness and cruelty, as well as her own personal tragedies—including the titular essay of the collection, which tells the story of her partner’s sudden death on the eve of the COVID-19 epidemic. Every bit as piercing and moving as her fiction, On Witness and Respair is a testament to Ward’s powers as “one of America’s finest living writers” (San Francisco Chronicle) and is a monument to hope, beauty, and personal and collective resilience.
- GenresEssaysNonfictionMemoir
256 pages, Hardcover
Expected publication May 19, 2026
5 people are currently reading
577 people want to read
About the author
Jesmyn Ward
27 books9,519 followersJesmyn Ward is the author of Where the Line Bleeds, Salvage the Bones, and Men We Reaped. She is a former Stegner Fellow (Stanford University) and Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi. She is an associate professor of Creative Writing at Tulane University.
Her work has appeared in BOMB, A Public Space and The Oxford American.
Her work has appeared in BOMB, A Public Space and The Oxford American.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 29, 2026
Respair is my new favorite word.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
In On Witness and Respair, Jesmyn Ward invites us into a deeply personal decade of her life. Ten years
of her life shaped by grief, return, motherhood, and the healing power of literature. These essays feel intimate and rooted in Mississippi as both a home place and a site of remembering.
Ward writes honestly about leaving for Stanford and feeling small and untethered, then finding her way back to herself through home and through the writers who mirrored her interior life including Octavia Butler, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison.
I was moved most by the essays on loss and anticipatory grief: the death of her brother, the sudden death of her partner, and the fear and vigilance of raising a Black son in America. Ward’s prose is lyrical without being precious, piercing without spectacle. I finished this collection feeling like I know her better and feeling newly called to revisit her fiction with deeper understanding. This is a book about witnessing, survival, and the quiet hope that comes after life breaks your heart over and over again.
of her life shaped by grief, return, motherhood, and the healing power of literature. These essays feel intimate and rooted in Mississippi as both a home place and a site of remembering.
Ward writes honestly about leaving for Stanford and feeling small and untethered, then finding her way back to herself through home and through the writers who mirrored her interior life including Octavia Butler, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison.
I was moved most by the essays on loss and anticipatory grief: the death of her brother, the sudden death of her partner, and the fear and vigilance of raising a Black son in America. Ward’s prose is lyrical without being precious, piercing without spectacle. I finished this collection feeling like I know her better and feeling newly called to revisit her fiction with deeper understanding. This is a book about witnessing, survival, and the quiet hope that comes after life breaks your heart over and over again.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
ARC for review. To be published May 19, 2026.
5 stars
A collection of Ward’s essays, articles and speeches. It’s wonderful, though sometimes repetitive, since the parts were not intended to be a book; she recollects some events in her life several times, obviously. However, hearing some of them again was actually a treat.
I’ve been meaning to read Ward for years but the synopses of her books always make them sound so depressing. I must choose one and give it a try. She is a writer we need in our world today.
My favorite article was the title one, but her life: her Mississippi upbringing, Hurricane Katrina, COVID, the death of her partner, is fascinating, and she also includes profiles of some famous black artists. I was impressed by the lot. If you’ve read and admired Ward you should read this.
5 stars
A collection of Ward’s essays, articles and speeches. It’s wonderful, though sometimes repetitive, since the parts were not intended to be a book; she recollects some events in her life several times, obviously. However, hearing some of them again was actually a treat.
I’ve been meaning to read Ward for years but the synopses of her books always make them sound so depressing. I must choose one and give it a try. She is a writer we need in our world today.
My favorite article was the title one, but her life: her Mississippi upbringing, Hurricane Katrina, COVID, the death of her partner, is fascinating, and she also includes profiles of some famous black artists. I was impressed by the lot. If you’ve read and admired Ward you should read this.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews