She attended Stanford University, earning a B.A. in English, in 1999, and an M.A. in media studies and communication, in 2000. In 2005 she graduated from the University of Michigan with her M.F.A..
Ward is currently a professor of creative writing at Tulane University. She is the author of the novels
Where the Line Bleeds and Salvage the Bones, which won the 2011 National Book Award, and Sing, Unburied, Sing, which won the 2017 National Book Award. She is also the editor of the anthology The Fire This Time and the author of the memoir Men We Reaped, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
