All Who Belong May Enter, Nicholas Ward’s debut essay collection, centers on self-exploration and cultural critique. These personal essays explore whiteness, masculinity, and a Midwest upbringing through sporting events, parties, posh (and not so posh) restaurant jobs, and the many relationships built and lost along the way. With a storyteller’s spirit, Ward recounts and evaluates the privilege of his upbringing with acumen and vulnerability. Throughout his examination, Ward’s profound affection for his friends, family, lovers, pets, and particularly his chosen home, Chicago, shines through. This collection offers the reader hope that through greater understanding comes an opportunity for healing. All Who Belong May Enter acknowledges whiteness and masculinity as clubs where, as much as Ward may wish he doesn’t belong, he’s forever linked, and therefore tasks himself through his writing and thinking to continuously hold himself and the society around him accountable. 

All Who Belong May Enter was selected by Jaquira Díaz as the winner of the 2020 Autumn House Press Nonfiction Prize and will be released in October 2021.

“In All Who Belong May Enter, Ward thoughtfully and honestly interrogates aspects of masculinity and how it affects his relationships and how he moves through the world. He expands his personal story to explore how gentrification has changed cities like Detroit and Chicago, considering white silence and complicity. An introspective, beautifully written work.
—Jaquira Díaz, author of Ordinary Girls”

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