Live from the Reading Room: Correspondence is a podcast series that aims to share interesting and engaging letters written by or to key historical figures from the African Diaspora.

Each episode highlights a letter from popular collections housed in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library.

Today’s episode features a note from Harlem Renaissance writer Nella Larsen to an unidentified friend—“Eddie”—regarding a social gathering preceding the lavish and notorious wedding of Yolande Du Bois and Countee Cullen.  

To learn more about the “mystery woman of the Harlem Renaissance” and the Cullen-Du Bois Wedding, plan a visit to the library!

Writer Linda Villarosa runs the journalism program at The City College of New York. A journalist with a rich history writing for Essence, the Root and other black media, Linda has long admired the work of Nella Larsen. Linda's novel Passing for Black was inspired by the themes in Passing by Larsen, and Linda included a quote from the book as her foreword.  She recites today’s correspondence. 

Special Note: All text is represented as originally written by the correspondent.