Nella Larsen

After the publication of her first novel Quicksand in 1928, Nella Larsen was considered a rising star of the Harlem Renaissance. Passing appeared the following year, and in 1930 Larsen became the first black woman to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Writing. Personal issues prevented the completion of her third novel, and by the late 1930s Larsen had stopped writing entirely and faded from the scene. She returned to her work as a nurse-a career she had pursued before her writing...See more

After the publication of her first novel Quicksand in 1928, Nella Larsen was considered a rising star of the Harlem Renaissance. Passing appeared the following year, and in 1930 Larsen became the first black woman to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Writing. Personal issues prevented the completion of her third novel, and by the late 1930s Larsen had stopped writing entirely and faded from the scene. She returned to her work as a nurse-a career she had pursued before her writing success. She died in Brooklyn in 1964, at the age of 72. In the late 1960s her works were republished and discovered by a new generation of readers. See less