The Author Events Series presents Victoria Christopher Murray, author of the award winning book, The Personal Librarian.
In Conversation with Elizabeth Wellington
This partnership was inspired by Victoria Christopher Murray’s role as an Honorary Member of The Society, Inc., and developed in collaboration with the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation and The Greater Delaware Valley Chapter of The Society, Inc.
The Society, Incorporated, is a non-profit national organization of women dedicated to enhancing, exposing, and promoting youth in the arts for the betterment of our communities, with a focus on under-served children. The group provides support for young literary, visual, vocal, and performing artists.
In 1919, a high school teacher from Washington, D.C arrives in Harlem excited to realize her lifelong dream. Jessie Redmon Fauset has been named the literary editor of The Crisis. The first Black woman to hold this position at a preeminent Negro magazine, Jessie is poised to achieve literary greatness. But she holds a secret that jeopardizes it all.
W.E.B. Du Bois, the founder of The Crisis, is not only Jessie’s boss, he’s her lover. And neither his wife, nor their fourteen-year-age difference can keep the two apart. Amidst rumors of their tumultuous affair, Jessie is determined to prove herself. She attacks the challenge of discovering young writers with fervor, finding sixteen-year-old Countee Cullen, seventeen-year-old Langston Hughes, and Nella Larsen, who becomes one of her best friends. Under Jessie’s leadership, The Crisis thrives…every African American writer in the country wants their work published there.
When her first novel is released to great acclaim, it’s clear that Jessie is at the heart of a renaissance in Black music, theater, and the arts. She has shaped a generation of literary legends, but as she strives to preserve her legacy, she’ll discover the high cost of her unparalleled success.
Victoria Christopher Murray is a New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty novels, including her most recent release Harlem Rhapsody. With Marie Benedict, she coauthored The Personal Librarian, a Good Morning America book club pick, and The First Ladies, Target’s 2023 Book of the Year. She is an NAACP Image Award Winner for Outstanding Literary Work for her novel Stand Your Ground, which was also a Library Journal Best Book of the Year. She holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.
Because you love Author Events, please make a donation when you register for this event to ensure that this series continues to inspire Philadelphians.
Books will be available for purchase at the library on event night!
All tickets are non-refundable.
The views expressed by the authors and moderators are strictly their own and do not represent the opinions of the Free Library of Philadelphia or its employees.
