Episode 13: Yuval Taylor on Zora Neale Hurston & Langston Hughes

The Interview: 

Yuval Taylor’s dual biography Zora & Langston (Norton), documents the lives, times, and work of novelist and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston and poet and writer Langston Hughes, two towering pillars of the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s and 30s. Taylor writes about their intimate (and productive) friendship, their falling out with one another (and their patron), and the regret they both lived with until their deaths for not reconciling with one another. 

The Reading: 

Artist and musician Senon Williams reads selections from Langston Hughes’ The Weary Blues, Hughes' first poetry collection published by Knopf in 1927.

Music credits:

Music composed by Florence Price
Performed by Fort Smith Symphony and John Jeter

**Other audio:

Zora clips:

 From a session with Alan Lomax / Library of Congress (YouTube)

Langston clips:

Langston Hughes Reads Langston Hughes (YouTube)

The Weary Blues with Langston Hughes, Charles Mingus, and Leonard Feather (YouTube)