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Two-Time National Book Award Winner Jesmyn Ward Headlines Lunch for Libraries on May 5

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Headshot of author Jesmyn Ward.
MacArthur Fellowship recipient and New York Times bestselling author Jesmyn Ward will headline this year's Lunch for Libraries fundraiser on May 5 at Monona Terrace. 

MADISON, WI– MacArthur Fellowship recipient, New York Times bestselling author, and two-time National Book Award-winner Jesmyn Ward is announced to headline Madison Public Library Foundation's signature spring fundraiser, Lunch for Libraries, taking place at noon on Tuesday, May 5 at Monona Terrace Convention Center.

Tickets to the luncheon are $150 and include a pre-signed hardcover copy of Ward's new book On Witness and Respair. Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit Wisconsin Book Festival's year-round public author programming. Tickets will go on sale on February 24, 2026, at 10 a.m. at mplfoundation.org/lunch.

Jesmyn is an incredible author for the 15th edition of Lunch for Libraires. Hosting her for this event that gathers so many library lovers is a perfect way to honor her impact on the American literary scene and make Madison part of the national landscape.  Lunch for Libraries raises money to keep our outstanding author events free and open to the public. I can't think of a better person to bring us together. 

—

Conor Moran, Executive Director of Madison Public Library Foundation

Book cover of On Witness and Respair by Jesmyn Ward.
On Witness and Respair is Jesmyn Ward's latest book. The author will discuss it during the 2026 Lunch for Libraries event at Monona Terrace on May 5. Tickets go on sale February 24. 

On Witness and Respair is a monument to hope, beauty, and personal and collective resilience. It documents more than a decade of work in the life of a singular writer often lauded as “the heir apparent to Toni Morrison” (LitHub). Ward reflects in the book on a variety of topics, including grief, resilience, Black motherhood, and her partner's sudden death on the eve of the COVID-19 epidemic.

For 25 years, the Wisconsin Book Festival has brought readers and authors together. We laugh, cry, learn from each other, and exchange ideas. Like Jesmyn Ward's enduring impact as a literary icon of our time, our legacy as Wisconsin's premier literary event is time-tested and sustained by the people who show up, year after year. To hear from Ward in this big anniversary year for the festival on the extremely urgent topic of 'respair'—fresh hope after grief —will be especially meaningful and an unforgettable community experience.

—

Jane Rotonda, Wisconsin Book Festival Director. 

About the Author

Jesmyn Ward received her MFA from the University of Michigan and is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a Stegner Fellowship, the Strauss Living Prize, and the 2022 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. She has won the National Book Award for Fiction twice—for Salvage the Bones and Sing, Unburied, Sing. Her memoir Men We Reaped was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and received the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize and the Media for a Just Society Award. Ward is currently a professor of creative writing at Tulane University and lives in Mississippi.

Learn more about Jesmyn Ward.

About Madison Public Library Foundation

Madison Public Library Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization that provides critical support to Madison Public Library resulting in free programs and resources to the hundreds of thousands of adults, children, and youth in the Madison area. Through fundraising, advocacy, and capital campaigns, the Library Foundation strengthens the library's work and promotes greater awareness of its valuable resources. Learn how to support Madison's libraries at mplfoundation.org, on the Foundation's Facebook page, and on Instagram and LinkedIn. 

For information about the Wisconsin Book Festival, visit wisconsinbookfestival.org.

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