Source: D. Millner
Valerie Boyd, who is widely known for her biography of Zora Neale Hurston entitled Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston died on Feb. 18, after a five-year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 58 years old.
The beloved editor and journalist rose to prominence in the world of literature writing and editing The Bitter Southerner and Gathering Blossoms Under Fire, a forthcoming compilation about the detailed journal entries of Pulitzer Prize Winner Alice Walker. Boyd also lent her incredible genius to the soon-to-be-released text, “Bigger Than Bravery: Black Resilience and Reclamation in a Time of Pandemic,” an anthology series based on Black resilience and reclamation.
The Georgia native spent two decades writing as a reporter and arts editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the space where she would hone in on her carefully crafted biography of Zora Neale Hurston, a piece that undoubtedly became one of her largest literary achievements.
According to The Washington Post, it took the esteemed journalist nearly 5 years to piece together extensive research on “Wrapped in Rainbows: The Life of Zora Neale Hurston.” The book, which was published in 2003, covers Hurston’s “upbringing in the all-Black town of Eatonville, Florida, through her literary activity during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s.” Boyd takes readers on a journey as she masterfully paints the illuminated “adventures complexities and sorrows of Hurston’s extraordinary life.”
Boyd previously told In Motion Magazine in an interview:
“Because I am a Black Southern woman, I felt very close to Zora, as if I could paint a picture of her life almost from the inside out. I wanted to give readers a sense of what it was like to be Zora, to walk in her shoes, to live inside her skin.”
The Atlanta native was widely adored by her students and staff at the University of Georgia where she led the Master of Fine Arts program in narrative nonfiction writing. According to the AJC, “the innovative program brings diverse groups of students together with highly experienced writers and editors to tell true, deeply reported stories.”
One of the star author’s students, Martin Padgett told the publication that he was deeply moved by the thought, care and dedication she gave to students in the course.
“Because I sat in that classroom in that building and Valerie Boyd had orchestrated all these great speakers and all this great hand-holding into translating journalism in long-form — I got it right away. I just understood,” Padgett explained. “And then I understood how lucky I was to be in that group.”
Because of Boyd, Padgett went on to write “A Night at the Sweet Gum Head: Drag, Drugs, Disco, and Atlanta’s Gay Revolution,” which has been reviewed by esteemed publications such as The New York Times and the AJC Decatur Book Festival.
Friends and family were shocked by Boyd’s untimely passing. According to the journalist’s close friend of 30-years, Veta Goler, she rarely spoke about her condition despite having gone through multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatment prior to her death.
“I can’t believe how much she did in her short years on the planet,” Goler, a retired Spelman College dance history professor and Boyd’s power of attorney said. “But she made that happen for other people as well. She was incredibly generous with her time, with information, with love, with encouragement.”’
The famous biographer’s childhood friend, Sonya Ross spoke about Boyd’s kind and attentive spirit.
“When you had conversations with Val, she was studying you in the whole conversation, or at least you felt studied. She was listening intently to everything you had to say.”
Valerie Boyd is survived by her older brother Michael and her niece Kaylisha.
