Jesmyn Ward's "On Witness and Respair" Explores Grief, Hope, and the Power of Storytelling

Jesmyn Ward, two-time National Book Award-winning novelist, released the nonfiction collection *On Witness and Respair* in May 2026. Dedicated to her late grandmother Dorothy (d. 2025), it gathers essays from the past two decades, many previously unpublished.

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Ward’s bibliography includes novels *Salvage the Bones* and *Sing, Unburied, Sing* and memoir *Men We Reaped*. Her brother died in a drunk-driving crash in 2000, her partner in 2020, and she survived Hurricane Katrina. She learned “respair” (meaning “fresh hope after despair”) from a poet on Twitter during the pandemic.

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Dorothy, Ward’s grandmother, told a story of a twin who died at birth and a “membrane across her face” that midwives linked to prophetic vision. Ward cites this as a formative influence.

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Ward holds a MacArthur Fellowship, the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, and National Book Awards. *On Witness and Respair* compiles a decade of nonfiction, including essays on Hurricane Katrina, William Faulkner, Prince and Ta-Nehisi Coates.

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Ward frames the collection as an act of “witness” that counters erasure of Black experiences in Mississippi. Storytelling can foster empathy, connection, and resilience.

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Ward says the book responds to grief, noting that writing helps her return to language and reinforces belief in storytelling’s power. She adds the chosen essays “were deeply engaged and wrestling with material in a frank, open way,” highlighting her commitment to honesty.

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Ward admits she “cringed” at the “’90s teen” voice of her work, calling some of it “terrible.” She cites “powerful actors” who lack her interests, framing her writing as a way to push back against them.

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• “My grandmother's twin was buried in a shoe box, and my grandmother was, like, put in a drawer that was her crib,” — Jesmyn Ward, author

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• “And so this poet was sort of talking about how they discovered this word and they were holding it close to them ... and I was so struck by that idea: that there was a word that existed that was the opposite of despair.” — Jesmyn Ward

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• “If you are present for and aware of grief and loss and trauma, then that perhaps leads you toward being present for the expressions of joy.” — Jesmyn Ward

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• “There is worth in witnessing.” — Jesmyn Ward

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• “And what I can do in order to push back against that is I can return to the word, and believe in the power of storytelling.” — Jesmyn Ward

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All sources define “respair” as “fresh hope after despair” and credit a poet on Twitter for introducing the term; no contradictory definitions appear. The collection’s table of contents and publishing imprint are not detailed.

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