{"title":"Jesmyn Ward","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"men-we-reaped-9781608197651b","title":"Men We Reaped","description":"\u003cp\u003eUniversally praised, Jesmyn Ward's \u003ci\u003eMen We Reaped\u003c\/i\u003e confirmed her ascendancy as a writer of both fiction and nonfiction, her Southern requiem securing its place on bestseller and best books of the year lists, with honors and awards pouring in from around the country.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eJesmyn's memoir shines a light on the community she comes from, in the small town of DeLisle, Mississippi, a place of quiet beauty and fierce attachment. Here, in the space of four years, she lost five young men dear to her, including her beloved brother-lost to drugs, accidents, murder, and suicide. Their deaths were seemingly unconnected, yet their lives had been connected, by identity and place, and as Jesmyn dealt with these losses, she came to a staggering truth: These young men died because of who they were and the place they were from, because certain disadvantages breed a certain kind of bad luck. Because they lived with a history of racism and economic struggle. The agonizing reality commanded Jesmyn to write, at last, their true stories and her own.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eMen We Reaped\u003c\/i\u003e opens up a parallel universe, yet it points to problems whose roots are woven into the soil under all our feet. This indispensable American memoir is destined to become a classic.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury USA","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42818818441296,"sku":"9781608197651B","price":10.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781608197651-l.jpg?v=1785873425"},{"product_id":"salvage-the-bones-9781608196265b","title":"Salvage the Bones","description":"\u003cb\u003eNational Book Award Winner\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA hurricane is building over the Gulf of Mexico, threatening the coastal town of Bois Sauvage, Mississippi, and Esch's father is growing concerned. A hard drinker, largely absent, he doesn't show concern for much else. Esch and her three brothers are stocking food, but there isn't much to save. Lately, Esch can't keep down what food she gets; she's fourteen and pregnant. Her brother Skeetah is sneaking scraps for his prized pitbull's new litter, dying one by one in the dirt. Meanwhile, brothers Randall and Junior try to stake their claim in a family long on child's play and short on parenting.\u003cdiv\u003e  \u003cp\u003eAs the twelve days that make up the novel's framework yield to their dramatic conclusion, this unforgettable family - motherless children sacrificing for one another as they can, protecting and nurturing where love is scarce - pulls itself up to face another day. A big-hearted novel about familial love and community against all odds, and a wrenching look at the lonesome, brutal, and restrictive realities of rural poverty, \u003ci\u003eSalvage the Bones\u003c\/i\u003e is muscled with poetry, revelatory, and real.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42872610160720,"sku":"9781608196265B","price":10.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781608196265-l.jpg?v=1785873630"},{"product_id":"sing-unburied-sing-9781501126062b","title":"Sing, Unburied, Sing","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e*Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction\u003cbr\u003e*A \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eTime \u003c\/span\u003eMagazine Best Novel of the Year and A \u003cspan style=\"font-style: italic;\"\u003eNew York TImes\u003c\/span\u003e Top 10 OF 2017\u003cbr\u003e*Finalist for the Kirkus Prize\u003cbr\u003e*Finalist for the Andrew Carnegie Medal\u003cbr\u003e*Finalist for the Aspen Words Literary Prize\u003cbr\u003e*Publishers Weekly Top 10 of 2017\u003cbr\u003e*Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003eIn Jesmyn Ward’s first novel since her National Book Award–winning Salvage the Bones, this singular American writer brings the archetypal road novel into rural twenty-first-century America. An intimate portrait of a family and an epic tale of hope and struggle, Sing, Unburied, Sing journeys through Mississippi’s past and present, examining the ugly truths at the heart of the American story and the power - and limitations - of family bonds.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJojo is thirteen years old and trying to understand what it means to be a man. He doesn’t lack in fathers to study, chief among them his Black grandfather, Pop. But there are other men who complicate his understanding: his absent White father, Michael, who is being released from prison; his absent White grandfather, Big Joseph, who won’t acknowledge his existence; and the memories of his dead uncle, Given, who died as a teenager.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis mother, Leonie, is an inconsistent presence in his and his toddler sister’s lives. She is an imperfect mother in constant conflict with herself and those around her. She is Black and her children’s father is White. She wants to be a better mother but can’t put her children above her own needs, especially her drug use. Simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she’s high, Leonie is embattled in ways that reflect the brutal reality of her circumstances.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen the children’s father is released from prison, Leonie packs her kids and a friend into her car and drives north to the heart of Mississippi and Parchman Farm, the State Penitentiary. At Parchman, there is another thirteen-year-old boy, the ghost of a dead inmate who carries all of the ugly history of the South with him in his wandering. He too has something to teach Jojo about fathers and sons, about legacies, about violence, about love.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRich with Ward’s distinctive, lyrical language, Sing, Unburied, Sing is a majestic new work and an unforgettable family story.","brand":"Scribner Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42868071891024,"sku":"9781501126062B","price":13.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781501126062-l.jpg?v=1785875655"},{"product_id":"where-the-line-bleeds-9781501164330b","title":"Where the Line Bleeds","description":"Joshua and Christophe are twins, raised by a blind grandmother and a large extended family in rural Bois Sauvage, on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast. They’ve just finished high school and need to find jobs, but after Katrina, it’s not easy. Joshua gets work on the docks, but Christophe’s not so lucky and starts to sell drugs. Christophe’s downward spiral is accelerated first by crack, then by the reappearance of the twins’ parents: Cille, who left for a better job, and Sandman, a dangerous addict. Sandman taunts Christophe, eventually provoking a shocking confrontation that will ultimately damn or save both twins.","brand":"Scribner Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42820237394000,"sku":"9781501164330B","price":9.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781501164330-l.jpg?v=1785879027"},{"product_id":"sing-unburied-sing-9781501126079b","title":"Sing, Unburied, Sing","description":"Jojo is thirteen years old and trying to understand what it means to be a man. He doesn’t lack in fathers to study, chief among them his Black grandfather, Pop. But there are other men who complicate his understanding: his absent White father, Michael, who is being released from prison; his absent White grandfather, Big Joseph, who won’t acknowledge his existence; and the memories of his dead uncle, Given, who died as a teenager.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHis mother, Leonie, is an inconsistent presence in his and his toddler sister’s lives. She is an imperfect mother in constant conflict with herself and those around her. She is Black and her children’s father is White. She wants to be a better mother but can’t put her children above her own needs, especially her drug use. Simultaneously tormented and comforted by visions of her dead brother, which only come to her when she’s high, Leonie is embattled in ways that reflect the brutal reality of her circumstances.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen the children’s father is released from prison, Leonie packs her kids and a friend into her car and drives north to the heart of Mississippi and Parchman Farm, the State Penitentiary. At Parchman, there is another thirteen-year-old boy, the ghost of a dead inmate who carries all of the ugly history of the South with him in his wandering. He too has something to teach Jojo about fathers and sons, about legacies, about violence, about love.","brand":"Scribner Book Company","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42869964832848,"sku":"9781501126079B","price":10.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781501126079-l.jpg?v=1785879526"},{"product_id":"let-us-descend-9781982104498b","title":"Let Us Descend","description":"\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003eOPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: bold;\"\u003e2023 Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Best Historical Fiction \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom Jesmyn Ward—the two-time National Book Award winner, youngest winner of the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, and MacArthur Fellow—comes a haunting masterpiece, sure to be an instant classic, about an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“‘Let us descend,’ the poet now began, ‘and enter this blind world.’” —\u003ci\u003eInferno\u003c\/i\u003e, Dante Alighieri\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLet Us Descend\u003c\/i\u003e is a reimagining of American slavery, as beautifully rendered as it is heart-wrenching. Searching, harrowing, replete with transcendent love, the novel is a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Annis, sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her, is the reader’s guide through this hellscape. As she struggles through the miles-long march, Annis turns inward, seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother. Throughout, she opens herself to a world beyond this world, one teeming with spirits: of earth and water, of myth and history; spirits who nurture and give, and those who manipulate and take. While Ward leads readers through the descent, this, her fourth novel, is ultimately a story of rebirth and reclamation.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e From one of the most singularly brilliant and beloved writers of her generation, this miracle of a novel inscribes Black American grief and joy into the very land—the rich but unforgiving forests, swamps, and rivers of the American South. \u003ci\u003eLet Us Descend\u003c\/i\u003e is Jesmyn Ward’s most magnificent novel yet, a masterwork for the ages.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Scribner","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42872534892624,"sku":"9781982104498B","price":13.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781982104498-l.jpg?v=1785880971"},{"product_id":"let-us-descend-9781982104504b","title":"Let Us Descend","description":"\u003cb\u003eOPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • Instant \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003eBestseller \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e• Named one of the best books of 2023 by \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eVanity Fair\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTime\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, and more.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom “one of America’s finest living writers” (\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e) and “heir apparent to Toni Morrison” (\u003ci\u003eLitHub\u003c\/i\u003e)—comes a haunting masterpiece about an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War that’s destined to become a classic.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLet Us Descend\u003c\/i\u003e describes a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation. 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While Annis leads readers through the descent, hers is ultimately a story of rebirth and reclamation.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eFrom one of the most singularly brilliant and beloved writers of her generation, this “[s]earing and lyrical…raw, transcendent, and ultimately hopeful” (\u003ci\u003eThe Atlanta Journal-Constitution\u003c\/i\u003e) novel inscribes Black American grief and joy into the very land—the rich but unforgiving forests, swamps, and rivers of the American South. \u003ci\u003eLet Us Descend\u003c\/i\u003e is Jesmyn Ward’s most magnificent novel yet.","brand":"Scribner","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42872739135568,"sku":"9781982104504B","price":10.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781982104504-l.jpg?v=1785881403"},{"product_id":"navigate-your-stars-9781982131326b","title":"Navigate Your Stars","description":"For Tulane University’s 2018 commencement, Jesmyn Ward delivered a stirring speech about the value of hard work and the importance of respect for oneself and others. Speaking about the challenges she and her family overcame, Ward inspired everyone in the audience with her meditation on tenacity in the face of hardship. Ward’s moving words will inspire readers as they prepare for the next chapter in their lives, whether, like Ward, they are the first in their families to graduate from college or are preceded by generations, or whether they are embarking on a different kind of journey later in life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBeautifully illustrated in full color by Gina Triplett, this gorgeous and profound book will charm a generation of students - and their parents. Ward’s inimitable voice shines through as she shares her experience as a Southern black woman and addresses the themes of grit, adversity, and the importance of family bonds. 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From a stirring portrait of Rodney King’s final days to a surreal video game set in the Middle East,with real consequences, to an indigenous boy’s gripping escape from his captors, this collection renders profoundly empathetic depictions of the variety of human experience. These stories are poignant reminders of the possibilities of fiction: as you sink into world after world, become character after character, as Ward writes,you“forget yourself, and then, upon surfacing, know yourself and others anew.","brand":"Mariner Books","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42822618021968,"sku":"9781328485380B","price":12.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781328485380-l.jpg?v=1785888730"},{"product_id":"on-witness-and-respair-essays","title":"On Witness and Respair: Essays","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe collected creative nonfiction of a singular American writer, Jesmyn Ward, including widely shared classics, three never-before-published speeches, and an introductory essay.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eRespair (noun, obsolete), fresh hope after despair.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eFrom the two-time National Book Award winner and \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e 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” (\u003ci\u003eLitHub\u003c\/i\u003e). 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.”\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eTrue 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, \u003ci\u003eOn Witness and Respair\u003c\/i\u003e is a testament to Ward’s powers as “one of America’s finest living writers” (\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e) and is a monument to hope, beauty, and personal and collective resilience.","brand":"Scribner","offers":[{"title":"Bargain","offer_id":42866662539344,"sku":"9781668064269B","price":14.49,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0592\/8173\/5760\/files\/9781668064269-l.jpg?v=1788303379"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookoutlet.com\/en-ca\/collections\/jesmyn-ward.oembed","provider":"Book Outlet","version":"1.0","type":"link"}