Madam Walker and Annie Malone with Agbara Bryson (in-person)
2024-03-02 17:00 - 19:00 UTC | IN
Peoria Riverfront Museum
222 SW Washington Street
Peoria, IL
https://www.peoriariverfrontmuseum.org/events

Keynote: The Power of Aging (in person)
2024-03-06 13:00 - 14:00 UTC | IN
PAA Community Forum on Aging
www.paainc.org

Keller Williams Conference
2024-04-22 | IN
Indianapolis, IN

AHA Harlem Renaissance Plenary (NYC)
2025-01-03 20:00 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | New York Hilton, 1335 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY
In observation of the 100th anniversary of Alain Locke’s The New Negro, A’Lelia will join a panel moderated by Columbia Journalism School dean Jelani Cobb with Gene Andrew Jarrett (Princeton), David Levering Lewis (NYU), Denise Murrell (The Met), and Jeffrey Stewart (UCSB) at the American Historical Association annual meeting.

AHA Black Women's Biography
2025-01-04 08:30 - 10:00 (Asia/Karachi) | New York Hilton, 1335 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY
A’Lelia joins a panel with professors Barbara Savage (University of Pennsylvania), Thadious Davis (University of Pennsylvania), Farah Jasmine Griffin (Columbia University), Cheryl D. Hicks (University of Delaware) and Sharon Harley (University of Maryland College Park). Inspired by Savage’s Merze Tate: The Global Odyssey of a Black Woman Scholar (Yale, 2023), this session explores questions of sources, methodology, and interpretation in biographies of African American women. Panelists will speak from their experiences as scholars whose work represents a rich variety of approaches to researching and writing the lives of a diverse group of Black women.

Harvard Business School “Changing the World: Life Choices of Influential Leaders"
2025-01-31 08:00 - 13:00 UTC | IN
For the third year, A’Lelia joins Professor Robert Simons’s Harvard Business School class — ““Changing the World: Life Choices of Influential Leaders” — to answers second year MBA students’ questions about Simons’s case study on Madam C. J. Walker’s life as an entrepreneur.

Harlem Renaissance at Woodlawn Cemetery (Virtual)
2025-02-11 19:00 - 20:00 UTC | IN
Join A’Lelia Bundles and Eric K. Washington for a talk on the best books to read to learn more about the Harlem Renaissance. This talk is sponsored by an American Cultural Heritage Action Fund grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

ASALH Luncheon Authors Book Fair (Washington, DC)
2025-02-22 10:00 - 12:00 (Asia/Karachi) | Westin Washington, DC, 2350 M Street NW, Washington, DC, 20016, United States
A’Lelia will join several authors at Author’s Book Fair at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History’s Black History Month Luncheon

Montgomery County, PA Women's Center International Women's Day (Virtual)
2025-03-06 18:00 - 19:30 (Asia/Karachi) | IN
A’Lelia will speak at the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Women’s Center’s annual International Women’s Day program

Woman's National Democratic Club (Washington, DC)
2025-03-11 17:30 - 19:00 (Asia/Karachi) | 1526 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20036
A’Lelia will speak about Madam C. J. Walker and A’Lelia Walker’s political, community and philanthropic activism at a Women’s History Month program at the Democratic Woman’s National Democratic Club in Washington, DC.

BIO Black Biography Conference (Montgomery, AL)
2025-03-22 09:00 - 10:00 (America/Chicago) | Troy University, 231 Montgomery St, Montgomery, AL, 36104, United States
A’Lelia will deliver the keynote speech at the Telling Stories of Black Lives Through Biographies symposium hosted by Troy University and the Biographers International Organization in Montgomery, Alabama.

Telling the Stories of Black Lives through Biography (BIO Conference)
2025-03-22 09:00 - 10:00 UTC | Troy University, 231 Montgomery St, Montgomery, AL, 36104, United States
In her keynote address — “Because the Ancestors Insist: Why I Write Biography” — A’Lelia discusses her research and writing about Madam C. J. Walker and A’Lelia Walker, the long tradition of memoir and autobiography writing by Black authors, and how the current efforts to erase and sanitize Black history mirror late 19th and early 20th century efforts by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and some white historians to promote white supremacy in school curriculum and public monuments.

WGBH "Under the Radar with Callie Crossley"
2025-04-05 08:00 - 17:00 UTC | IN
To hear A’Lelia’s interview with Under the Radar host Callie Crossley click here.

Art and Beauty in the Black American Experience: A Panel Inspired by Artist Amy Sherald
2025-04-25 18:00 - 20:00 UTC | The Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort Street, New York, 10014, United States
A’Lelia will join a distinguished panel of beauty innovators and influencers including Camille Rose founder Janell Stephens, Harlem Candle and Perfume Company founder Teri Johnson, Danessa Myricks Beauty founder and Robyn Atwater of Curldaze to reflect on artist Amy Sherald’s Whitney Museum exhibition, “American Sublime.”

World Bride Magazine Legacy Ball of Harlem
2025-05-05 18:00 - 23:00 UTC | Renaissance Hotel New York, 233 W 125th St, New York, NY, 10027, United States
A’Lelia joins World Bride Magazine founder Myrdith Leon-McCormack at the Renaissance New York Hotel for a celebration of the Harlem Renaissance and the neighborhood’s cultural impact. Click here for tickets.

BIO Virtual Roundtable: Writing Women's Lives
2025-05-29 19:00 - 20:00 UTC | Virtual
A’Lelia will moderated a virtual roundtable discussion on biographies about women as part of BIO’s annual conference. Space is limited so register now at https://biographersinternational.org/conference/2025-bio-conference/#program

Biographer's International Conference (BIO Members Presentations)
2025-06-05 15:00 - 16:30 UTC | National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW, Washington, DC, 20045, United States
A’Lelia will join other BIO members as they read excerpts from their most recent biographies. She’ll select a section from Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance, which will be published on June 10. Register for the conference at https://biographersinternational.org/conference/2025-bio-conference/#tab1

Joy Goddess Launch at the Schomburg Center (video link included)
2025-06-09 18:00 - 20:30 UTC | Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, NY, 10037, United States
To watch A’Lelia’s conversation with Dr. Deborah Willis, click here.
A’Lelia launches the publication of her new book, Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance, in a conversation with her dear friend Deborah Willis They first met during the 1980s when A’Lelia was doing research about the Walker women and Deborah was on the staff of Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the storied institution now celebrating the centennial of its founding. It is fitting that this launch happens at the Schomburg, which is located at the corner of Madam C. J. Walker and A’Lelia Walker Place and Lenox Avenue/Malcolm X Boulevard and that it is only steps away from the original site of A’Lelia Walker’s Harlem townhouse at 108-110 West 136th Street (now the home of the Countee Cullen Branch of the New York Public Library.)
Register at https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2025/06/09/joy-goddess-book-launch-and-conversation

Joy Goddess in Washington, DC at MLK Library (video link included)
2025-06-11 19:00 - 20:30 UTC | Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, 901 G Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20001, United States
To watch A’Lelia’s conversation with author Tracy Chiles McGhee, click here.
A’Lelia discussed her new book Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance at 901 G Street, NW at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library.
Register at Martin Luther King Library website and at Politics & Prose website

Joy Goddess in Phildelphia (Barnes & Noble)
2025-06-12 18:00 - 20:00 UTC | Barnes & Noble Philadelphia, 1708 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, United States
A’Lelia will talk about Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance in conversation with Rutgers Professor Tiffany Gill at the Philadelphia Barnes & Noble.
The event is free but registration is recommended

Joy Goddess in Cambridge (Harvard Book Store)
2025-06-13 19:00 - 20:30 UTC | Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, 01238, United States
A’Lelia looks forward to being in conversation with her good friend and former ABC News colleague Callie Crossley, host of WGBH radio’s “Under the Radar.”

Joy Goddess in New York (Harvard Club of New York)
2025-06-17 19:00 - 20:30 UTC | Harvard Club of New York, 27 West 44th Street, New York, NY, 10036, United States
A’Lelia will be in conversation with Kenneth Ebie at the Harvard Club of New York.
Register at https://www.hcny.com/event/joy-goddess-alelia-walker-and-the-harlem-renaissance/

Joy Goddess in Indianapolis (Madam Walker Legacy Center)
2025-06-22 15:30 - 19:00 UTC | Madam Walker Legacy Center, 617 Indiana Avenue, Indianapolis, IN, United States
A’Lelia will be in conversation with CICF Women’s Fund president Tamara Winfrey-Harris at the Madam Walker Legacy Center
3:30 p.m. – 5 p.m. VIP Reception in the Walker Ballroom
5 p.m. – 7 p.m. Book Talk in the Walker Theatre
Register at https://madamwalkerlegacycenter.com/events/legacy-reception-talkback-an-afternoon-with-alelia-bundles/

Library of Congress Talk with Glory Edim and Marita Golden (video link included)
2025-07-17 18:00 - 20:00 UTC | Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street SE, Washington, DC, United States
To watch A’Lelia’s conversation with authors Glory Edim and Marita Golden, click here.
An evening celebrating Black women writers and literary heroes with A’Lelia Bundles (“Joy Goddess”), whose great-grandmother A’Lelia Walker was crucial to the Harlem Renaissance, and Glory Edim, whose new book is “Gather Me: A Memoir in Praise of the Books That Saved Me.” Marita Golden, novelist and co-founder of the Hurston/Wright Foundation, moderated.

National Book Club Conference (Atlanta)
2025-08-01 - 2025-08-03 | Westin Buckhead, 3391 Peachtree Road, NE, Atlanta, GA, 30326, United States
A’Lelia will be a featured author at the annual National Book Club Conference at Atlanta.

Preservation League of New York State Book Club (video link included)
2025-09-03 16:00 - 17:00 UTC | Virtual
To watch A’Lelia’s virtual talk with PLNYS Book Club, click here.
Please join me for an illustrated virtual talk about Madam C. J. Walker and A’Lelia Walker’s lives with vintage photos from my Madam Walker Family Archives. I’ll talk about architecture and preservation with a focus on Madam Walker’s Villa Lewaro in Irvington, New York and A’Lelia Walker’s Harlem townhouse on 136th Street and her pied-a-terre on Edgecombe Avenue. I look forward to answering your questions about On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker and my new book, Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance. Register at https://bit.ly/4n4jukV
This author talk is presented as part of the Preservation League of NYS’s Preservation Book Club sponsored by the Peggy N. & Roger G. Gerry Charitable Trust.
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Joy Goddess at Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore (video link included)
2025-09-04 19:00 - 20:00 UTC | Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral Street, Baltimore, MD, 2102, United States
To watch my conversation with Pulitzer Prize winning columnist E. R. Shipp, click here.
I’m looking forward to my conversation at the Enoch Pratt Free Library in BALTIMORE on 9/4 at 7:00 p.m. ET with Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and Morgan State multimedia journalism professor E. R. Shipp. While she was a New York Times reporter, she wrote about and lived in Harlem, so she knows the territory I cover in Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance. Register for the in-person and virtual event at http://bit.ly/45KOlgM

VIRTUAL The Dark Tower Book Club IG Live on 9/5
2025-09-05 19:00 - 20:00 UTC | Dark Tower Book Club Tower Talks
Please join me and Monifa Coffee, the host of the newly formed Dark Tower Bookclub, inspired by A’Lelia Walker’s Dark Tower cultural salon. I look forward to talking about how the Dark Tower came to be, the impact it had on the social and cultural scene of the Harlem Renaissance and why those gatherings have lessons for us today. Tune in at 7 p.m. ET on IG Live @thedarktowerbookclub

Dark Tower Book Club

IN-PERSON & VIRTUAL Joy Goddess at CUNY Graduate Center in NY 9/9
2025-09-09 20:00 UTC | Graduate Center at CUNY, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY, 10016, United States
This event is virtual on YouTube and in-person at the Segal Theatre at CUNY’s Graduate Center! So you have options! I hope you’ll join award-winning biographer Eric K. Washington and me for a deep dive into the people, places and events of the Harlem Renaissance as we talk about my new book, Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance. It’s always fun to talk with Eric because my research and his research for his book, Boss of the Grips: The Life of James H. Williams and the Red Caps of Grand Central Terminal have so many intersections and common themes.
Register at https://bit.ly/4gjgf7j
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Joy Goddess at the National Archives - Washington, DC (video link included)
2025-09-15 19:00 - 20:30 UTC | National Archives, 701 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20408, United States
To watch the video of the program click here
Join author, journalist, and historian A’Lelia Bundles as she discusses her latest book, Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance, with PBS NewsHour co-anchor Geoff Bennett.
Dubbed the “joy goddess of Harlem’s 1920s” by poet Langston Hughes, A’Lelia Walker, daughter of millionaire haircare entrepreneur Madam C.J. Walker, is a fascinating figure whose legendary parties and Dark Tower salon helped define the Harlem Renaissance. Bundles, Walker’s great-granddaughter and namesake, explores her business savvy and love for the arts in a new biography, leveraging extensive archival research to reveal Walker as a central changemaker in the Harlem Renaissance movement.
Following the program, guests are invited to join us for champagne, dessert, and a book signing with A’Lelia Bundles from 8:00 p.m. – 8:45 p.m. EDT.
This program is made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the Rightfully Hers Fund.
