1891-1960

The Official ZORA NEALE HURSTON website:

http://www.zoranealehurston.com

Zora Neale Hurston was a groundbreaking pioneer on many fronts—as a writer and anthropologist, as a woman, and as an African American. At the time of her death in 1960, all of her work was out of print, and her legacy was in danger of dying with her. She has since been rediscovered and is now one of our best-loved, and bestselling, literary and cultural figures. This remarkable woman’s life is magnificently celebrated in SPEAK, SO YOU CAN SPEAK AGAIN: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston (Doubleday) by Lucy Anne Hurston and the Estate of Zora Neale Hurston with Malaika Adero—a multimedia treasure trove of personal and professional memorabilia, including a CD of Zora speaking and singing, accompanied by a lively narrative.

Born at the turn of the 19th century, Zora Neale Hurston grew up in the all-black community of Eatonville, Florida. After attending Howard University she made her way to New York City where she went to Barnard College and quickly immersed herself in the City’s black literary movement that became the Harlem Renaissance. What set Zora apart, from her race, her gender, and her literary cohorts, was that she was a combination of elements that really didn’t go together in the 1920s—she was a liberated woman who smoked cigarettes and wore trousers, yet she was politically conservative; and she was a storyteller in the literary and traditional sense as well as an academic and anthropologist.

SPEAK, SO YOU CAN SPEAK AGAIN brings the literature and personality of Zora Neale Hurston beautifully to life. You can pull out a crinkled, folded map of Eatonville; you can view Zora’s early publications from the twenties, and even her handmade Christmas cards. You can also see the artist in the many worlds she graced—Florida, Harlem, and the Caribbean––from exclusive family photographs. Every memento is a perfect facsimile replete with the original creases, smudges, and spontaneous scribbling. Zora’s stories in her own voice are also here on a CD of an interview with her and of herself singing folk songs she collected in the field.

Accompanying the beautifully reproduced artifacts and mementoes is Zora’s niece Lucy Anne Hurston’s illuminating narrative and reminiscence of Zora, told in a way that only a family member can relate. SPEAK, SO YOU CAN SPEAK AGAIN presents a vivid portrait of Zora, from her unique childhood to her many professional accomplishments and personal stories. The result is a stunning tribute for all ages.

In spring 2005, Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions’ adaptation of Hurston’s classic, Their Eyes Were Watching God, premiered on television. The movie stared Halle Berry and was adapted for the screen by Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks.