Between the Lines: Harlem Rhapsody by Victoria Christopher Murray

Join us for an evening with Victoria Christopher Murray, author of Harlem Rhapsody: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Ignited the Harlem Renaissance in conversation with Melissa Noel, Essence Magazine. Harlem Rhapsody centers the life of Harlem Renaissance writer Jessie Redmond Fauset, the literary editor of the NAACP's The Crisis magazine (1919-1925) and mentor to writers like Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Nella Larsen, and Claude McKay. In this work of historical fiction, Murray weaves together research and imagination to bring to life an exciting moment in history and the life of a woman considered a "mid-wife" to the Harlem Renaissance. A book signing will follow.

Victoria Christopher Murray is a New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty novels, including The Personal Librarian, a Good Morning America book club pick, and The First Ladies, Target’s 2023 Book of the Year, both of which she coauthored with Marie Benedict. She is a 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.

Melissa Noel is an award-winning international journalist, host and media entrepreneur. She has built a distinguished career in television news and digital media with work that centers on reporting issues impacting the Black diaspora internationally.

Accessibility requests can be made by e-mail [email protected].

Copies of Harlem Rhapsody: The Extraordinary Story of the Woman Who Ignited the Harlem Renaissance will be available for purchase from the Schomburg Shop in Harlem.

She found the literary voices that would inspire the world…. The extraordinary story of the woman who ignited the Harlem Renaissance, written by Victoria Christopher Murray, New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Personal Librarian.
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.

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Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, United States