Jesmyn Ward, an Arlington Reads 2015 featured author, has just won the National Book Award for her new novel “Sing, Unburied, Sing,” making her the first woman to win the award twice for fiction.

Her previous win was for her second novel, “Salvage the Bones,” in 2011.

In October of this year, Ward was also one of this year’s MacArthur fellowship recipients (often called the “genius grant”), along with Arlington Reads 2017 author Viet Thanh Nguyen.

Ward visited Arlington on April 8, 2015, as that year’s featured Arlington Reads non-fiction author, for her memoir, “Men We Reaped.”

She spoke to enthusiastic students at Marymount University in the afternoon…

And in the evening she addressed a packed audience at Central Library.

In both locations she signed books and talked to her readers – you can see many more photos from both talks on flickr.

Arlington Reads is an annual program that promotes thoughtful discussion and the joy of reading throughout Arlington County. Visit our Arlington Reads playlist on youtube to see more (due to author contracts, not all programs are available on video.)