Jerry W. Ward, Jr., Professor of English at Dillard University, is the author of The Katrina Papers: A Journal of Trauma and Recovery (UNO Press, 2008). A Richard Wright scholar, poet, literary critic, Ward was born in Washington, DC but has spend most of his adult life in Mississippi and Louisiana. He earned his undergraduate degree in mathematics (Tougaloo College 1964) and his doctorate in English (University of Virginia 1978). He is co-editor with Maryemma Graham of The Cambridge History of African American Literature (forthcoming) and with Robert Butler of The Richard Wright Encyclopedia (Greenwood 2008). His work-in-progress includes Reading Race Reading America, a collection of literary and social essays, and Richard Wright: One Reader's Responses.