The period of time during which certain financial performance-based targets must be achieved in order to trigger payment of performance-based restricted stock awards under the terms of the long-term incentive plans, in 'PnYnMnDTnHnMnS' format, for example, 'P1Y5M13D' represents the reported fact of one year, five months, and thirteen days.

No definition available.

Name:	jwa_ShareBasedCompensationArrangementByShareBasedPaymentAwardPeriodForAchievementOfPerformanceBasedTargets
Namespace Prefix:	jwa_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

Stock-Based Compensation (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	3 Months Ended		9 Months Ended
Stock-Based Compensation (Details) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Jan. 31, 2023	Jan. 31, 2022	Jan. 31, 2023	Jan. 31, 2022
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Share-based compensation expense	$ 6,600	$ 6,300	$ 20,613	$ 19,361
Performance Shares
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Period for achievement of performance-based targets (in years)			3 years