What do you think?
Rate this book
On Witness and Respair
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.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 19, 2026
About the author
Jesmyn Ward
28 books9,712 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
May 22, 2026
respair, n.
Perhaps: fresh hope, or recovery from despair.
This word is now obsolete.
—Oxford English Dictionary
(thanks to the publisher for the arc / review to come)
Perhaps: fresh hope, or recovery from despair.
This word is now obsolete.
—Oxford English Dictionary
(thanks to the publisher for the arc / review to come)
January 29, 2026
Respair is my new favorite word.
May 30, 2026
Jesmyn Ward is just such a great writer. I love her nonfiction and feel she doesn't get enough credit for that. The personal essays are really what standout here and the profiles and literary reviews are less engaging, but are good.
February 5, 2026
Jesmyn Ward! She is who I had in mind when I coined the word Prosey and created a Prosey Posse! So, even in her nonfiction her prose defies description. Prosey. I am filled with joy reading Jesmyn Ward even when she is writing of difficulties. Grief. Despair. Poverty. Loss. Longing.
When you produce a book of previously published essays, you usually get a lot of overlap, due to the collection being put together with pieces written over a number of years. But one thing that is crystal clear in this collection is how important reading was for her. Her yearning to be seen in literature was ever propulsive.
One cannot underestimate how desperate one can feel to be not only seen but have their existence validated. The way Jesmyn writes about that desperation is downright impressive and inspiring.
Standout essays include, You Tell Your Story: You Survive (Eudora Welty Lecture, address at the National Press Club), A Conflicted, Imperfect Love (Introduction, As I lay Dying, Vintage International edition) and the titular essay, In Witness and Respair: A Personal Tragedy Followed by a Pandemic. A lovely collection of writing from Jesmyn Ward destined to further solidifying her status as a literary luminary!!! Thanks to Scribner and Edelweiss for an advanced DRC. Book drops May, 2026
When you produce a book of previously published essays, you usually get a lot of overlap, due to the collection being put together with pieces written over a number of years. But one thing that is crystal clear in this collection is how important reading was for her. Her yearning to be seen in literature was ever propulsive.
One cannot underestimate how desperate one can feel to be not only seen but have their existence validated. The way Jesmyn writes about that desperation is downright impressive and inspiring.
Standout essays include, You Tell Your Story: You Survive (Eudora Welty Lecture, address at the National Press Club), A Conflicted, Imperfect Love (Introduction, As I lay Dying, Vintage International edition) and the titular essay, In Witness and Respair: A Personal Tragedy Followed by a Pandemic. A lovely collection of writing from Jesmyn Ward destined to further solidifying her status as a literary luminary!!! Thanks to Scribner and Edelweiss for an advanced DRC. Book drops May, 2026
February 22, 2026
When reading Jesmyn Ward, words like beautiful and masterpiece lose their meaning.
She tells her stories with truth and simplicity, and with intricacy and generosity and elegance. The word “handcrafted” comes to mind. I picture her plucking words from above her brow and placing them intentionally, rearranging them on the page until they make a piece of art.
This book of essays collects her work from the last couple of decades across publications, some of which I had read, some I had not. Putting them all together in the same place allows us to more easily connect the heartstrings of so much of her work. That heartbeat is that her stories, her family’s stories, Black stories, deserve to be told straight. That the pain is not to be dimmed but the beauty shouldn’t be dimmed a bit either. She explores Black artists and storytellers who have done this, and she practices it herself. She accomplishes it so beautifully, not offering a cheap hope that ignores reality, but as the last essay indicates, an unquenchable hope that is based in the strength of the people she has known and witnessed. I am so grateful that her grandmother taught her to “Tell it straight, tell it all.” And I am so grateful that she continues to open up her heart and share her stories with us.
She tells her stories with truth and simplicity, and with intricacy and generosity and elegance. The word “handcrafted” comes to mind. I picture her plucking words from above her brow and placing them intentionally, rearranging them on the page until they make a piece of art.
This book of essays collects her work from the last couple of decades across publications, some of which I had read, some I had not. Putting them all together in the same place allows us to more easily connect the heartstrings of so much of her work. That heartbeat is that her stories, her family’s stories, Black stories, deserve to be told straight. That the pain is not to be dimmed but the beauty shouldn’t be dimmed a bit either. She explores Black artists and storytellers who have done this, and she practices it herself. She accomplishes it so beautifully, not offering a cheap hope that ignores reality, but as the last essay indicates, an unquenchable hope that is based in the strength of the people she has known and witnessed. I am so grateful that her grandmother taught her to “Tell it straight, tell it all.” And I am so grateful that she continues to open up her heart and share her stories with us.
May 21, 2026
Beautiful, devastating new collection of old essays by Ward. My first by her as her fiction intimidates me a bit, but I should probably get over it and give it a go.
***Of interest to no one but me, but according to my reading spreadsheet, this is my first work published by Simon & Schuster (in the U.S.) this year. How can that be?? Weird.
***Of interest to no one but me, but according to my reading spreadsheet, this is my first work published by Simon & Schuster (in the U.S.) this year. How can that be?? Weird.
May 26, 2026
No one does it like Ward
May 24, 2026
Jesmyn Ward’s On Witness and Respair pulls together her creative non-fiction writing from introductions to republished classical fiction, public speaking engagements, and magazines and news outlets from 2005 to the present.
She opens by introducing us to her kin—grandmother, mother, brother, and father—and she bears witness to growing up as a black girl in the Mississippi Gulf Coast who was poor. With no central heat or central air in their family-brimmed home, she read to hush the world, curious to find a sense of belonging.
Then she read and wrote stories to find herself and tell it true. And what’s true is this: Ward’s material poverty in rural Mississippi is slavery’s legacy, and more broadly, the myth of a savior lures the American consciousness to view Black Americans unvirtuously. For example, she records the death of her 19-year-old younger brother Joshua, who was killed in a car accident by a 40-year-old white man, who was subsequently charged with fleeing the scene of the crime and was released from prison after 3 years, about 2 years early. Joshua’s life and death continually appear throughout the essays. The myth America continues to believe is ingrained because of our history. In short, slavery is the antithesis of love.
Material poverty, however, does not inevitably intersect with imaginative poverty. Despite her heritage, her love for her home is clear. This is Ward’s greatest strength as a writer: clear-eyed and resilient, she generates fiction and recounts enslaved existences because Mississippi is a place worth living. She cries against the injustices following Katrina and fights against the dehumanization of Black Americans by creating characters with dignity in her historical fiction to rightly recognize her full inheritance. And her truthful storytelling necessarily leads to hope. But one must honestly tell of their Southern girlhood caste experiences in underfunded public-school classrooms with limited access to literature with representation before joy becomes more beautiful.
Ward’s openness induces empathy, and her expansive evenness in her art is formidable. I love reading about why a person of color loves their home in the sticky, swampy South. Sometimes, it’s right to return, to stay.
I rate On Witness and Respair 4.5 stars.
My thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for an ARC.
She opens by introducing us to her kin—grandmother, mother, brother, and father—and she bears witness to growing up as a black girl in the Mississippi Gulf Coast who was poor. With no central heat or central air in their family-brimmed home, she read to hush the world, curious to find a sense of belonging.
Then she read and wrote stories to find herself and tell it true. And what’s true is this: Ward’s material poverty in rural Mississippi is slavery’s legacy, and more broadly, the myth of a savior lures the American consciousness to view Black Americans unvirtuously. For example, she records the death of her 19-year-old younger brother Joshua, who was killed in a car accident by a 40-year-old white man, who was subsequently charged with fleeing the scene of the crime and was released from prison after 3 years, about 2 years early. Joshua’s life and death continually appear throughout the essays. The myth America continues to believe is ingrained because of our history. In short, slavery is the antithesis of love.
Material poverty, however, does not inevitably intersect with imaginative poverty. Despite her heritage, her love for her home is clear. This is Ward’s greatest strength as a writer: clear-eyed and resilient, she generates fiction and recounts enslaved existences because Mississippi is a place worth living. She cries against the injustices following Katrina and fights against the dehumanization of Black Americans by creating characters with dignity in her historical fiction to rightly recognize her full inheritance. And her truthful storytelling necessarily leads to hope. But one must honestly tell of their Southern girlhood caste experiences in underfunded public-school classrooms with limited access to literature with representation before joy becomes more beautiful.
Ward’s openness induces empathy, and her expansive evenness in her art is formidable. I love reading about why a person of color loves their home in the sticky, swampy South. Sometimes, it’s right to return, to stay.
I rate On Witness and Respair 4.5 stars.
My thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for an ARC.
May 18, 2026
Everyone, everyone should read this book.
Jesmyn Ward is such a gifted storyteller. This collection of essays follows themes of family, racial injustice, growing up poor/Black in the south, grief, family, and identity. There are stories from her girlhood through adulthood, and they are all held in a net of such beautiful, raw observation that even I (a middle-class white woman from Oklahoma) felt it in my bones. These essays made me laugh, made me angry, made me feel shame and guilt for my complacency, and gave me appreciation for Black art I have been exposed to and will continue to seek out. Much like in our country’s history (and present), there is a lot of tragedy in this collection. Ward doesn’t shy away from it, though, and finds such beautiful hope in her experiences and roots. “This place that made me haunts me.” Beautiful prose, powerful message, and please just read it.
Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Jesmyn Ward is such a gifted storyteller. This collection of essays follows themes of family, racial injustice, growing up poor/Black in the south, grief, family, and identity. There are stories from her girlhood through adulthood, and they are all held in a net of such beautiful, raw observation that even I (a middle-class white woman from Oklahoma) felt it in my bones. These essays made me laugh, made me angry, made me feel shame and guilt for my complacency, and gave me appreciation for Black art I have been exposed to and will continue to seek out. Much like in our country’s history (and present), there is a lot of tragedy in this collection. Ward doesn’t shy away from it, though, and finds such beautiful hope in her experiences and roots. “This place that made me haunts me.” Beautiful prose, powerful message, and please just read it.
Thank you to Scribner and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I’ve been a fan of Jesmyn Ward ever since SALVAGE THE BONES, and I’ll read anything she writes. Her style is so lyrical and immersive, and that strength is fully on display in this essay collection.
These essays span personal grief, her upbringing in rural Mississippi, social justice, and the artists who have shaped her voice. The most powerful pieces are the deeply personal ones. they feel raw, intimate, and stayed with me long after I finished.
While a few essays lean more reflective and may feel slower at times, they still add depth to the collection as a whole. Ward’s insight and honesty make even the quieter moments meaningful.
Overall, this is a stunning, thoughtful collection. Ward writes with such clarity, emotion, and purpose. It's impossible not to be moved. This felt like getting closer to her as both a writer and a person. Truly a powerhouse. I’ll continue to read whatever she writes next.
These essays span personal grief, her upbringing in rural Mississippi, social justice, and the artists who have shaped her voice. The most powerful pieces are the deeply personal ones. they feel raw, intimate, and stayed with me long after I finished.
While a few essays lean more reflective and may feel slower at times, they still add depth to the collection as a whole. Ward’s insight and honesty make even the quieter moments meaningful.
Overall, this is a stunning, thoughtful collection. Ward writes with such clarity, emotion, and purpose. It's impossible not to be moved. This felt like getting closer to her as both a writer and a person. Truly a powerhouse. I’ll continue to read whatever she writes next.
May 21, 2026
The past is never dead. It’s not even past.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
**My thanks to Scribner for providing me with an advanced review copy via NetGalley**
4.5 stars
Jesmyn Ward is, in my opinion, one of the greatest living American writers, and so I was intrigued to see if I enjoyed her essays as much as I do her novels (some writers can really only do one). To my great pleasure Ward’s creative nonfiction style is just as engaging as her fiction, and I was so compelled by her personal narratives that I cried more than once while reading.
Ward also has sharp insights into contemporary Black American literature that will be enormously illuminating to any English students who choose to pick this book up.
I found Ward’s personal and political reflections the most compelling, and the articles and essays written to promote upcoming books and other art a little less so, probably because in this book of essays they sit more divorced from the immediate goals of their writing. However I still found great value in them, particularly in the essays where she describes an interview she’s had with another artist.
I would highly recommend this book to fans of Ward’s fiction work and to anyone, whether or not they have read Jesmyn Ward before, who is at all interested in contemporary American life and literature.
4.5 stars
Jesmyn Ward is, in my opinion, one of the greatest living American writers, and so I was intrigued to see if I enjoyed her essays as much as I do her novels (some writers can really only do one). To my great pleasure Ward’s creative nonfiction style is just as engaging as her fiction, and I was so compelled by her personal narratives that I cried more than once while reading.
Ward also has sharp insights into contemporary Black American literature that will be enormously illuminating to any English students who choose to pick this book up.
I found Ward’s personal and political reflections the most compelling, and the articles and essays written to promote upcoming books and other art a little less so, probably because in this book of essays they sit more divorced from the immediate goals of their writing. However I still found great value in them, particularly in the essays where she describes an interview she’s had with another artist.
I would highly recommend this book to fans of Ward’s fiction work and to anyone, whether or not they have read Jesmyn Ward before, who is at all interested in contemporary American life and literature.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
I loved this collection! Jesmyn Ward brings together essays she's written for different publications over the years, such as Vanity Fair, The Guardian, NPR, as well as forwards to classics like THE GREAT GATSBY, BLOODCHILD, AS I LAY DYING, and her anthology THE FIRE THIS TIME. She skillfully compiles them into a narrative about her life; her upbringing as a poor Black child in Mississippi and reckoning with race; the grief of losing beloved men in her life; recovering from disaster after Hurricane Katrina; and the books, writers (both dead and living), and artists who shaped her along the way. I was a little nervous how about how a collection of already-published essays would work, but this works really well. Her writing is so poignant, and I think I love her creative nonfiction writing even more than her fiction writing. I felt like I really got to know the author behind all of the books and literary accolades, seeing what forces in her life shaped her books like SALVAGE THE BONES and LET US DESCEND. Throughout the collection, she shows how she has born witness throughout her life and taps into "respair," or fresh hope after despair. Plus, it added many books to my TBR that I want to read ASAP.
Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for the ARC.
Thanks to Scribner and NetGalley for the ARC.
May 23, 2026
3.75⭐️
The writing is beautiful as always. I love the way Ward constructs sentences and invokes feelings through her words. She is an exceptional writer. I have only ever read her fiction so getting to read some background about her life was eye opening. She definitely puts a lot of herself into her fiction.
And although I may not agree with all of her political commentary or opinions, I appreciate how passionately she writes about it and how more often than not, she’s sharing her experience.
Because this is a collection of essays I found parts to be repetitive. Not just topics (although the same 3 topics showed up in a lot of the essays), but word choices and phrases she used. She would describe something the exact same way in different essays. I also felt like this collection lacked cohesiveness. There were a few essays that didn’t feel liked they belonged. They were still good, just out of place.
Ultimately I will read anything by this author and I’m glad I read this.
***Thank you NetGalley, Jesmyn Ward and Scribner for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.***
The writing is beautiful as always. I love the way Ward constructs sentences and invokes feelings through her words. She is an exceptional writer. I have only ever read her fiction so getting to read some background about her life was eye opening. She definitely puts a lot of herself into her fiction.
And although I may not agree with all of her political commentary or opinions, I appreciate how passionately she writes about it and how more often than not, she’s sharing her experience.
Because this is a collection of essays I found parts to be repetitive. Not just topics (although the same 3 topics showed up in a lot of the essays), but word choices and phrases she used. She would describe something the exact same way in different essays. I also felt like this collection lacked cohesiveness. There were a few essays that didn’t feel liked they belonged. They were still good, just out of place.
Ultimately I will read anything by this author and I’m glad I read this.
***Thank you NetGalley, Jesmyn Ward and Scribner for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.***
May 30, 2026
Library ebook 📖: Wow. This collection of nonfiction essays, speeches, and profiles spans almost 30 years of Ward’s life and career. I was gutted by Ward’s pieces about her family riding out Hurricane Katrina in a field and losing her teenage brother in a car accident. This section really captured grief: “Losing him taught me one great lesson: even after that which you love dies, the love you have for it does not die. Grief is learning to live with that love.”
Her essays about the power of reading and her critical analysis of specific books and authors were probably my favorite pieces.
Some of what she’s written about Gatsby echoes what I say about the novel in class. I found myself highlighting so many lines, like “the very social class that embodied the dream Gatsby wanted for himself was predicated on exclusion. That Gatsby was doomed from the start. He’d been born on the outside; he would die on the outside.
There are so many beautifully written sentences that it’s hard to pick an example. Here’s one about reading and writing hard stories: “To witness someone in all their complexity and to detail that complexity is an act of love”
Her essays about the power of reading and her critical analysis of specific books and authors were probably my favorite pieces.
Some of what she’s written about Gatsby echoes what I say about the novel in class. I found myself highlighting so many lines, like “the very social class that embodied the dream Gatsby wanted for himself was predicated on exclusion. That Gatsby was doomed from the start. He’d been born on the outside; he would die on the outside.
There are so many beautifully written sentences that it’s hard to pick an example. Here’s one about reading and writing hard stories: “To witness someone in all their complexity and to detail that complexity is an act of love”
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
Thank you to NetGalley and Scribner for the advanced reader copy! All thoughts are my own:
A collection of essays from Jesmyn Ward about her upbringing in rural Mississippi, COVID, social justice, and the novels and writers that influenced her own storytelling.
I’m pretty selective with my nonfiction reads. I requested this one on NetGalley since it’s from my favorite author (and Mississippi native) and I’ve got tickets to attend her talk on this book at my local bookstore in May. Man am I glad to have read it.
The way Ward writes about Mississippi, the good and the bad, is the most accurate account ive ever read. In every one of her books ive read. The influence of these other authors she writes about here is clear throughout her other writings too.
However, I’ve found no one in literature that writes creative nonfiction as well as Ward. This book does a lot of things but at the top of that list for me is that it does Mississippi justice.
(The only nonfiction book I’ve ever read in one sitting [over like 150 pages, that is])
A collection of essays from Jesmyn Ward about her upbringing in rural Mississippi, COVID, social justice, and the novels and writers that influenced her own storytelling.
I’m pretty selective with my nonfiction reads. I requested this one on NetGalley since it’s from my favorite author (and Mississippi native) and I’ve got tickets to attend her talk on this book at my local bookstore in May. Man am I glad to have read it.
The way Ward writes about Mississippi, the good and the bad, is the most accurate account ive ever read. In every one of her books ive read. The influence of these other authors she writes about here is clear throughout her other writings too.
However, I’ve found no one in literature that writes creative nonfiction as well as Ward. This book does a lot of things but at the top of that list for me is that it does Mississippi justice.
(The only nonfiction book I’ve ever read in one sitting [over like 150 pages, that is])
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
5 stars
Leave it to Jesmyn Ward to give us our word of the moment and a whole lot of fabulous content to show vs. tell.
I absolutely love Ward's fiction and could not wait to get my paws on this nonfiction collection. My very high expectations were not only met but - as is usual with this author - exceeded.
Having just come off a strong fictional work that was extremely sad, I appreciate Ward's "respair" focused perspective even more. Times are tough, and in these moments, we thrive in that sense of forthcoming hope and possibility. It's not always easy to find or hold onto, but these essays are constant memories and examples - including in the repeated introductions of specific personal losses - of how that hope can function and save us from our circumstances and ourselves.
Ward is a gift, and this collection is yet another compelling example of why.
*Special thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for this arc, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Leave it to Jesmyn Ward to give us our word of the moment and a whole lot of fabulous content to show vs. tell.
I absolutely love Ward's fiction and could not wait to get my paws on this nonfiction collection. My very high expectations were not only met but - as is usual with this author - exceeded.
Having just come off a strong fictional work that was extremely sad, I appreciate Ward's "respair" focused perspective even more. Times are tough, and in these moments, we thrive in that sense of forthcoming hope and possibility. It's not always easy to find or hold onto, but these essays are constant memories and examples - including in the repeated introductions of specific personal losses - of how that hope can function and save us from our circumstances and ourselves.
Ward is a gift, and this collection is yet another compelling example of why.
*Special thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for this arc, which I received in exchange for an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Review of advance copy
On Witness and Respair: Essays, by Jesmyn Ward
I received this book free as part of the May 2026 fundraiser lunch for the Madison Public Library.
This superb collection of essays is essentially a memoir, and a darn good one and perfect reading for the 250th U.S. birthday year. The author is a national book award winner twice over for other books, and reading her perfect prose was a treat. The subject matter is serious stuff about her life in coastal Mississippi as a child and later as a returning adult. The shock of her brother’s death affected me, as it should. I also gasped at how she and her neighbors barely survived the hurricanes and then had to live for months without help to rebuild or even find food at times. I learned from her honesty and the baring of her soul as a Black girl, sister, adult, college student, mother, widow—a woman who succeeded by becoming a writer. A highly recommended book!
I received this book free as part of the May 2026 fundraiser lunch for the Madison Public Library.
This superb collection of essays is essentially a memoir, and a darn good one and perfect reading for the 250th U.S. birthday year. The author is a national book award winner twice over for other books, and reading her perfect prose was a treat. The subject matter is serious stuff about her life in coastal Mississippi as a child and later as a returning adult. The shock of her brother’s death affected me, as it should. I also gasped at how she and her neighbors barely survived the hurricanes and then had to live for months without help to rebuild or even find food at times. I learned from her honesty and the baring of her soul as a Black girl, sister, adult, college student, mother, widow—a woman who succeeded by becoming a writer. A highly recommended book!
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.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to Net Galley and Scribner for this Advance Reader’s Copy of On Witness and Respair.
Jesmyn Ward’s book features several essays that explore her childhood in Mississippi, living in New York after graduating from college, and what brings her back to her native Mississippi. Among her essays, three really impacted me: her transparency as she deals with navigating emotions with the loss of both her partner and her brother; her reflections as her community was impacted by Hurricane Katrina; and her thoughts on Ta-Nehisi Coates as they both worked on writing projects that told the stories of enslaved people. Her thoughts on raising a son in this current climate circles back to her writing about her family history of loss.
Ward’s ability to weave her reflections on poverty, grief, and how that impacts community is masterful. I highly recommend her book.
Jesmyn Ward’s book features several essays that explore her childhood in Mississippi, living in New York after graduating from college, and what brings her back to her native Mississippi. Among her essays, three really impacted me: her transparency as she deals with navigating emotions with the loss of both her partner and her brother; her reflections as her community was impacted by Hurricane Katrina; and her thoughts on Ta-Nehisi Coates as they both worked on writing projects that told the stories of enslaved people. Her thoughts on raising a son in this current climate circles back to her writing about her family history of loss.
Ward’s ability to weave her reflections on poverty, grief, and how that impacts community is masterful. I highly recommend her book.
April 29, 2026
Jesmyn Ward is my favorite kind of writer - honest, deep, curious. She writes so the past is not forgotten and repeated. She keeps her ancestors alive by sharing their stories.
This book is a collection of essays that reads, to me, like a memoir. I enjoyed learning about what motivates Jesmyn Ward to write. I am a white woman, so I cannot relate to what it means to be black and seen as less than human, but I do my best to understand and innately I know that it isn’t right and it has to be faced and fixed. I want to hear the truth, especially when it isn’t pretty, because most likely if someone is writing about it, there’s hope involved too.
I recommend this book to everyone. Everyone should read it!
Thank you to Scribner & to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.
This book is a collection of essays that reads, to me, like a memoir. I enjoyed learning about what motivates Jesmyn Ward to write. I am a white woman, so I cannot relate to what it means to be black and seen as less than human, but I do my best to understand and innately I know that it isn’t right and it has to be faced and fixed. I want to hear the truth, especially when it isn’t pretty, because most likely if someone is writing about it, there’s hope involved too.
I recommend this book to everyone. Everyone should read it!
Thank you to Scribner & to NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
On Witness and Respair
Jesmyn Ward
Publication Date: May 19, 2026
ARC courtesy of Scribner and NetGalley.
We have seen some very strong short story collections from big name authors in 2026. This time, from multi award-winning author Jesmyn Ward, with a collection of works of non-fiction including essays and an introductory speech entitled, On Witness and Respair.
Ward tells us of the importance of giving testimony and speaking out. She writes about experiences in her personal life, Black History, as well as reflections on literary figures including Toni Morrison, James Baldwin and Octavia Butler. It is about coping after tragedy and loss, and how bearing witness can lead to hope, as, after falling, we get up and move on.
Jesmyn Ward
Publication Date: May 19, 2026
ARC courtesy of Scribner and NetGalley.
We have seen some very strong short story collections from big name authors in 2026. This time, from multi award-winning author Jesmyn Ward, with a collection of works of non-fiction including essays and an introductory speech entitled, On Witness and Respair.
Ward tells us of the importance of giving testimony and speaking out. She writes about experiences in her personal life, Black History, as well as reflections on literary figures including Toni Morrison, James Baldwin and Octavia Butler. It is about coping after tragedy and loss, and how bearing witness can lead to hope, as, after falling, we get up and move on.
May 29, 2026
This is a collection of essays, speeches, and narrative nonfiction gathered from a variety of sources--it is very much a gathering up, and so there's some repetition of theme but quite a range of length. I was most moved by some of the longer essays addressing loss, memory, survival (especially of Hurricane Katrina), and parenting. What really shines through is Jesmyn Ward's clear sight and beautiful prose. It's not really a book to read straight through--because these pieces were originally written for so many different occasions and publications, I found myself often stopping after an essay and not returning for a day or two, because that particular purpose had been served--but it's a book to return to and ingest gradually. I recommend it.
May 20, 2026
Jesmyn Ward has once again written a book of perfect sentences that made me cry and feel and relate and read in awe. She’s so honest, bold and generous. She remains one of my favorite writers, and I am so thankful that she shares her unique gift with us. I admire her courage in being vulnerable with us the reader. She wrote that she hopes her writing feels like sitting and listening to her tell us stories, and it does. What an intimate and special offering. I feel privileged to live at a time that Jesmyn Ward is writing.
Even if you have read some of these essays before, it is really remarkable to read them all together like this. It feels like a fluid memoir.
Even if you have read some of these essays before, it is really remarkable to read them all together like this. It feels like a fluid memoir.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I always struggle to rate books of essays, as it throws me off when a collection lacks cohesiveness. It's unsurprising to me that the essays that spoke on Katrina, personal grief, and growing up/coming back to Mississippi felt the most poignant. The essays detailing other authors/artists/people in history just didn't hit for for me, even when I was interested in the person being written about. That being said, I ultimately think that Jesmyn Ward can do no wrong, and I will read anything she puts out.
Review of advance copy received from NetGalley
Jesmyn Ward is a national treasure. I hadn't read her non-fiction before, so it was a treat to sit down with her essays and contemplate her ideas of growing up poor in the deep South, deciding to return home to Mississippi even after getting her BA and MFA elsewhere, losing her husband at the beginning of Covid, and more. Because these essays were published over a period of about ten years, certain stories do resurface, which can make the collection feel repetitive by the end, but that's no fault of the author since these were originally each meant to stand alone.
May 22, 2026
Beautifully written and read on audio by the author. This collection of essays and speeches take us deep into her heart, which holds grief for a brother and a husband, anger at dehumanization of Black people, ties like a steel cable to her deep south Mississippi family and home town, and love for those who gave her the family stories, taught her to love stories, and help her to tell stories. Other essays address her connections to literature, music, and art. Ward is a must read for me. In January, I first heard of this book from the Book Riot podcast.
May 24, 2026
A solid collection of speeches and previously published essays. The speeches are recordings of Ward delivering them, and she reads the essays. My favorite might have been the essay about Regina King because it made me appreciate her more than I already did. Because of the nature of this collection, some items are repeated in multiple essays, which makes some of the later essays less powerful than if they were encountered outside of the collection.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews