Jesmyn Ward grew up in DeLisle, Mississippi. She received her BA and MA from Stanford University and her MFA from the University of Michigan, where she received five Hopwood Awards. She was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University and the John and Renee Grisham Writer in Residence at the University of Mississippi. She is the author of the novels, "Where the Line Bleeds" and "Salvage the Bones"; the memoir, "Men We Reaped"; and the editor of "The Fire This Time". Ward is currently at work on her third novel and is an associate professor of creative writing at Tulane University. She lives in Mississippi.