Jesmyn Ward leads our list of New Orleans book events with her memoir 'Men We Reaped'

Jesmyn Ward will visit New Orleans twice this winter — for areading at Maple Street Books and as a participant in the 2014 TennesseeWilliams/New Orleans Literary Festival. That's one of the side benefits ofhaving a National Book Award winner in your backyard. Ward lives in a smalltown on the Mississippi Gulf Coast — when she isn't touring internationally asa lecturer. Her 2013 memoir, "Men WeReaped," is especially relevant for New Orleans, because of its powerfularguments about the continuing impact of racism on poor black people — eventhose, like Ward, who beat the odds and get their voices heard.