Jesmyn Ward is an American novelist and professor of English at Tulane University, where she holds the Andrew W. Mellon Professorship in the Humanities. Born in Mississippi in 1977, Ward has established herself as a significant voice in contemporary American literature. Ward won the National Book Award for Fiction in 2011 for her second novel Salvage the Bones, which explores familial love and community in the context of Hurricane Katrina. She received the award again in 2017 for her novel Sing, Unburied, Sing, making her one of the few authors to win the prestigious award twice in the fiction category. In addition to her work as a novelist, Ward is an active member of the academic community at Tulane University, where she teaches English.