Eric Walrond (1898–1966) was a writer, journalist, critic, and fixture of 1920s Harlem; his short story collection, Tropic Death, was one of the first efforts by a black author to depict Caribbean lives and voices in American fiction. A new biography by Brooklyn College professor James Davis restores Walrond to his role as a luminary of the Harlem Renaissance and a catalyst for the New Negro literary movement in America. Davis follows Walrond from the West Indies to Panama, New York, France, and finally England, and recounts his relationships with authors such as Countée Cullen and Zora Neale Hurston.  Davis discusses this overlooked figure and his place in modern literature with critic and scholar Garnette Cadogan, co-editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of the Harlem Renaissance.. This evening is co-sponsored by Davis’ publisher Columbia University Press and Akashic Books, a leading publisher of Caribbean and contemporary African American fiction.  A wine reception and book signing follow the discussion.

Cosponsored by Columbia University Press and Akashic Books. Wine reception to follow.