By Coral Gables Gazette staff

Coral Gables audiences will have a rare opportunity to step inside the world of the Harlem Renaissance on Wednesday, August 20, when author and journalist A’Lelia Bundles visits Books & Books Coral Gables to discuss her new biography, Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance. The free event, part of the Books & Books Literary Foundation’s programming, begins at 7 p.m. at the store’s flagship location on Aragon Avenue.

A story rooted in legacy

Bundles’ subject is her own great-grandmother, A’Lelia Walker, daughter of Madam C.J. Walker, the famed entrepreneur whose haircare empire made her one of the nation’s first self-made female millionaires. A’Lelia Walker inherited not only her mother’s fortune but also her role as a cultural impresario. Dubbed the “joy goddess of Harlem’s 1920s” by Langston Hughes, Walker became an iconic hostess and patron whose salons and soirées were gathering places for the writers, artists, and musicians who defined an era.

In Joy Goddess, Bundles draws on personal correspondence, family records, and extensive archival research to present Walker as more than the sum of her parties. The biography traces her complicated journey as an heiress, businesswoman, and cultural figure, revealing both her triumphs and her struggles to establish her own identity beyond her mother’s shadow.

Rediscovering the cultural power of a forgotten icon

The book takes readers inside Walker’s three residences—a mansion, townhouse, and pied-à-terre—where her gatherings brought together luminaries including Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, Florence Mills, James Weldon Johnson, and Carl Van Vechten. More than glamorous backdrops, these spaces functioned as incubators of art, literature, and activism that shaped the Harlem Renaissance and extended its influence well beyond New York.

Bundles’ narrative is as personal as it is historical. Her perspective as Walker’s descendant lends intimacy, while her career as a journalist ensures rigor. A former Emmy-winning producer and deputy bureau chief for ABC News, Bundles is also the author of the acclaimed biography On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker, which inspired the Netflix series Self Made starring Octavia Spencer.

Praise from scholars and critics

Early reviews of Joy Goddess have underscored its significance. Dr. Keisha N. Blain, co-editor of the bestseller Four Hundred Souls, praised the book for enriching “our understanding of the complexities of race, gender, and class during the Harlem Renaissance.” Historian Farah Jasmin Griffin called it a “stellar accomplishment” that brings Walker out from behind the myths that long surrounded her.

Others emphasize the biography’s narrative power. Pulitzer Prize–winning author Diane McWhorter described it as a story that practically “writes itself as a movie script,” while Blair Underwood hailed it as a portrait of both resilience and glamour, capturing “the Afrostocracy of the Harlem Renaissance.”

Century-old movement still shapes conversations today

The arrival of Joy Goddess in Coral Gables highlights the city’s role as a cultural hub where national conversations about art, history, and identity take center stage. Books & Books, long a gathering place for authors and readers, continues its tradition of connecting South Florida audiences with voices that bring depth and dimension to American history.

For readers in Coral Gables, Bundles’ work offers more than a biography—it’s an invitation to engage with questions that remain urgent today. How do wealth, race, and gender intersect in shaping opportunity? How do cultural figures use their influence to nurture art and community? And how can the overlooked figures of history, once restored, expand our understanding of what defined an era?

The timing is also notable. Nearly a century after the Harlem Renaissance, its legacy of artistic brilliance born amid systemic constraints still resonates. By centering on A’Lelia Walker—a woman celebrated yet misunderstood—Bundles provides a window into the complexities of cultural leadership and personal identity, issues that echo in today’s conversations about representation and equity.

Event details

• What: Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance – author talk with A’Lelia Bundles
• When: Wednesday, August 20, 2025, at 7:00 p.m.
• Where: Books & Books Coral Gables, 265 Aragon Avenue
• Admission: Free and open to the public; RSVP required (seating not guaranteed)
• Book: Available in hardcover, audiobook, and e-book formats (Scribner, 384 pages, $29.99)