Jesmyn Ward Books in Order
Jesmyn Ward has written 10 books, published between 2006 and 2026. The first book is Where the Line Bleeds (2006) and the newest is On Witness and Respair: Essays (2026). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 10
- Published
- 2006–2026
- Confirmed
- 9 of 10 titles
- Pages on record
- 1,378 in 6 of 10 books
- Reading time
- 23–34 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 1,378 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 6 of 10 titles with a page count on record.
Jesmyn Ward writes fiction and memoir about African American families and rural poverty in Mississippi. Her 10 catalogued books run from Where the Line Bleeds (2006) to On Witness and Respair: Essays (2026). Her first three novels share a setting, the fictional Mississippi town of Bois Sauvage. Salvage the Bones (2011), about family love and community facing Hurricane Katrina, took the National Book Award for Fiction, and Sing, Unburied, Sing (2017) took it a second time, making Ward the only woman and the only African American writer to win that award twice. Ward was born in 1977 and holds the Andrew W. Mellon Professorship in the Humanities at Tulane University.
How many Jesmyn Ward books are there?
Jesmyn Ward has 10 books, released between 2006 and 2026. 3 of them belong to the Bois Sauvage series.
Jesmyn Ward Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 10 Jesmyn Ward books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 120062413/4
- 220112883/4
- 3Cattle Haul2012 · confirmed 3/42012–3/4
- 4Men We Reaped2013 · 258 pages · confirmed 3/420132583/4
- 5The Fire This Time2016 · 226 pages · confirmed 3/420162263/4
- 620173053/4
- 7Navigate Your Stars2020 · 60 pages · confirmed 3/42020603/4
- 82022–4/4
- 9Let Us Descend2023 · confirmed 3/42023–3/4
- 10On Witness and Respair: Essays2026 · confirmed 2/42026–2/4
Jesmyn Ward books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Bois Sauvage in order
3 booksPoint In Time Collection
1 book1 title published under this heading without a numbered place in a series.
Standalone books
6 books6 Jesmyn Ward titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Jesmyn Ward books in order?
You only need to read Jesmyn Ward books in order within the Bois Sauvage series, which holds 3 of the 10 Jesmyn Ward books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.
Where to start with Jesmyn Ward
Start with Where the Line Bleeds (2006), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Jesmyn Ward book?
On Witness and Respair: Essays (2026) is the newest Jesmyn Ward book released so far.
Is there a new Jesmyn Ward book coming?
No next Jesmyn Ward book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Awards Jesmyn Ward has won
Wikidata records 4 awards for Jesmyn Ward. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.
- National Book Award2017Won
- Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize2014Won
- PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award2012Won
- National Book Award2011Wonfor Salvage the Bones
Jesmyn Ward at a glance
- Still publishing
- Jesmyn Ward published a book as recently as 2026.
- Release pace
- Jesmyn Ward books have appeared about one every 2 years on average.
- Length
- 1,378 pages across the 6 of 10 books with a recorded length, a median of 250 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Jesmyn Ward books, 5 of 10, were published in the 2010s.
- Corroboration
- 1 of the 10 titles appear in all four independent book listings, and 9 in at least three.
What the Jesmyn Ward books are about
6 of the 10 Jesmyn Ward books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: african american families is tagged on 2 of 6. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- African American families 2 of 6 books
- Biography 2 of 6 books
- Rural poor 2 of 6 books