Athens, Ga. – In celebration of Women’s History Month, the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication will present “Alice and Zora: An Evening With Valerie Boyd and Evelyn C. White” at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 7, in room 148 of UGA’s Student Learning Center.
Boyd is the author of Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston and White is the author of the Alice Walker: A Life, both critically acclaimed biographies. Boyd and White will share insights about the prominent female authors who were the subjects of their books during the inaugural Women’s Voices Lecture. A reception and book signing will follow the lecture.
Boyd is an assistant professor of journalism and the Charlayne Hunter-Gault Distinguished Writer-in-Residence in UGA’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. She was also the former arts editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
As a cultural critic and freelance writer, she has published articles, essays and reviews in numerous publications, including Step Into a World: A Global Anthology of the New Black Literature, Ms. magazine, The Oxford American, Book magazine, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Creative Nonfiction and African American Review.
Boyd’s Wrapped in Rainbows – the first biography of author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston in 25 years – was published in January 2003 to enormous critical acclaim. Boyd was named Georgia Author of the Year in nonfiction. Alice Walker hailed the book as “magnificent” and “extraordinary.” The American Library Association chose it for a 2004 Notable Book Award, and the Southern Book Critics Circle honored Wrapped in Rainbows with the 2003 Southern Book Award for best nonfiction of the year.
Boyd’s next book, Spirits in the Dark: The Untold Story of Black Women in Hollywood, will be published by Knopf in 2008.
White is also the author of Chain Chain Change: For Black Women in Abusive Relationships, editor of The Black Women’s Health Book: Speaking For Ourselves, and a co-author of the photography book The African Americans.
Her articles, essays and reviews have appeared in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The Vancouver Sun, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The San Francisco Chronicle, and Smithsonian, Essence, and Ms. magazines.
White is a 1985 graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism where she was honored for her master’s thesis on “The Racial Development of Blind Black Children.” She earned a 1991 master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University and is a 1976 graduate of Wellesley College.
The Women’s Voices Lecture is sponsored by the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication Diversity Committee and recognizes women in the media. Funding is being provided by UGA’s Willson Center for Humanities and Arts.
The evening will also feature recognition of winners of The Women’s Voices Essay Contest. Student journalists from Clarke County’s Clarke Central and Cedar Shoals High Schools were asked to submit essays about a female journalist who has made a positive mark on the field and on society. Winners were selected by the Grady College Diversity Committee.
Established in 1915, the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication provides seven undergraduate majors including advertising, broadcast news, magazines, newspapers, public relations, publication management and telecommunication arts. The college offers two graduate degrees, and is home to the Knight Chair in Health and Medical Journalism and the Peabody Awards, internationally recognized as one of the most prestigious prizes for excellence in electronic media. For more information, visit www.grady.uga.edu.